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FREDERICK 

CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR 




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FREDERICK 

CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR 
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KT RENNELL RODD 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

Her Majesty the Empress Frederick 



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NEW YORK 
MACMILLAN AND CO. 

1888 



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CONTENTS 



Introduction— page 

Letter from Her Majesty the Empress Frederick vii 

Preface xiii 

Chapter I. 1831—1848 17 

II. 1848—1858 35 

III. 1858-1S63 59 

IV. 1864—1869 75 

V. 1870—1871 99 

VI. 1S71— 1887 143 

VII. 1888 175 

Appendix 189 



Schloss Friedrichskron, 

August 18th, 1888. 



Dear Me. Rodd, 

I think you are aware 
that my beloved husband, the late Emperor 
Frederick, when in England last year, visited 
the Throat Hospital, and was full of com- 
passion for the patients. His ailment caused 
at that time but little inconvenience, and 
his kind heart felt deeply sorry for those 
who had more to bear from the state of 
their throats. I had then a great wish to 
help the Hospital in some way, and had 
intended to make some little drawings, and 
collect some pretty and amusing stories to 



Vlll INTRODUCTION. 

form a small book which could be sold for 
the benefit of the Hospital funds. Alas ! I 
never found leisure or peace of mind to 
carry out this plan. 

As I have witnessed how much can be 
done by medical skill and careful nursing 
to alleviate the condition of those who suffer, 
I feel doubly anxious that as many as 
possible of those who have to struggle with 
sickness should be able to gain admission 
to a Hospital where they can find care and 
comforts which they could not have at home, 
and the best chance of being cured. Now 
that I have seen the kind and sincere 
sympathy with which my own countrymen 
followed the course of my beloved husband's 
illness, and the true feeling they showed in 
mourning his loss, I feel emboldened to take 
up under another form my idea of helping 
the Hospital. Not my own drawings or 
writings would I offer, but I ask you to 
pen a short account of the life of my beloved 



INTRODUCTION. IX 

husband, who was so soon taken away from 
us. As you knew him in sunny days when 
he was the picture of life and health, as 
well as in the last sad year when that life 
was overshadowed by sickness, I thought 
none would be better able than you to under- 
take the task of writing a short biography 
suitable for popular reading, which may make 
his name better known to the English Public, 
and give him a place in their affections beside 
that of my father, for whom he had so great 
a love, admiration and veneration, and with 
whose views and aims he so truly sym- 
pathized. I feel sure that the life of a good 
and noble man must be interesting to all, 
and that an example so bright and pure can 
only do good. 

Those in humbler walks of life who are 
denied many of the blessings enjoyed by the 
rich, to whose lot fall the so-called good things 
of this world, are often apt to imagine that 
their burden is the hardest to bear, that 



X INTRODUCTION. 

struggles, and pain, and tears are only for 
them. These perhaps will think differently 
when they read of sufferings borne with such 
patience, and of duty so cheerfully performed 
while sickness was undermining the strength 
of the strong man ; they will be able to enter 
in some degree into the depths of regret and 
disappointment felt by a ruler who loved his 
people, at being unable to carry out the long 
cherished plans for the welfare that he had so 
much at heart ; they will gaze with admiration 
at the courage with which, when the shades of 
death were hanging over his path, he strode 
stedfastly along to the end. 

Grief and pain come alike to all ; broken 
hearts are to be found in palaces as well as in 
cottages, and the bond of brotherhood seems 
strongest when love and pity unite all hearts, 
and reverence for what is good lifts up our 
souls. May this little history of the good and 
useful life of the Emperor Frederick appeal to 
the hearts of those who read it, and be as it 



INTRODUCTION. 



XI 



were a greeting from him to his fellow sufferers 
in the Hospital, to whom 1 so earnestly desire 
to do a small service ; and to which you have 
so kindly promised to devote your pen. 




PREFACE. 



The following brief sketch contains nothing 
controversial, nothing which could lead to dis- 
pute or discussion, and it has been especially 
attempted to eliminate, as far as possible, all 
matter of a political nature, and confine it to 
the record of such facts as illustrate the 
character of a simple and noble life, in a 
manner which may be acceptable to that 
wider circle of readers for whom, in accordance 
with the desire expressed in the introduction, 
it is designed. It is incomplete, inasmuch as it 
contains the story of one life, which is so 
intimately bound up with another, that the 
picture could only be completed by a full 
account of the lives of both. But it is believed 
that the intention of one, in obedience to whose 
wishes it was undertaken, has been thus best 
fulfilled. 

R. E. 
October, 1888. 



I, 



1831—1848. 



I. 

1831—1848. 

Tee Emperor Frederick was born on the 18th 
of October, 1831, the anniversary of the battle 
of Leipzig, and on the 18th of June, 1888, the 
anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, he was 
carried to his last resting-place in the church 
dedicated to Peace, among the gardens of Sans 
Souci. It is a curious coincidence that a life 
which will be for ever associated in history 
with the union of the German race into the 
great Empire of to-day should have opened 
and closed upon the anniversaries of these two 
great victories. In the fierce light of modern 
days, when nothing remains secret or sacred, 
where every action is watched by a thousand 
jealous eyes, interpreted or misinterpreted by a 
thousand busy voices, we do not -always 
recognize our heroes when they come : but 

B 



1 8 FREDERICK : 

the immediate verdict of contemporaries found 
him worthy of the time he was born in, and of 
the great events he was called upon to assist 
in moulding-. Placed in that lofty station 
which at least escapes the eye of scrutiny, he 
was found true to his own princely ideal as 
son, as husband, as father ; true to the ideal 
of his countrymen as a fearless leader in the 
battlefield, true to the highest ideal of all 
times as man and prince ; and surely, wherever 
the story is told of the great decade which 
closed with the proclamation of the German 
Empire at Versailles, beside the three figures 
which dominate it, the darling hero of future 
generations of Germans will be the Prince who 
taught the North and South their common 
brotherhood, whom Saxons, Bavarians, Wiirt- 
tembergers, and Badenese, no less than 
Prussians, alike saluted by the name of ' ' Unser 
Fritz." 

Those who have witnessed the events of the 
last months, have all been touched according to 
the depth of their own natures by the brave 
endurance and resignation, by the deeply 
pathetic close of a life, which, with its great 
opportunities for good and evil, was spent in 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 19 

unceasing devotion to duty, in patient prepara- 
tion for yet greater responsibilities, in unweary- 
ing efforts for the good of others. And yet 
probably what will remain to after generations, 
when the passions and emotions of life around 
them enofaofe all their attention, and the keen 
interest with which we have followed the events 
of the past year is absorbed in other lives, will 
be that radiant and heroic figure, which 
children's eyes will follow on the canvases 
depicting the triumph of Germany, of the 
soldier-prince, who, in the hour of danger and 
uncertainty, succeeded in uniting the sym- 
pathies of North and South, and guided that 
irresistible wave of national feeling through 
the bloody fields of Weissenburg and Worth, 
by the great strategic march to the crowning 
victory of Sedan. It may not be the immor- 
tality he would himself have chosen, but no 
man is master of his fate, and where so much 
must needs be left undone, where so many 
hopes and aspirations were disappointed, this 
at least will remain for ever associated with 
the most imperishable traditions of a great 
nation, of a Prince who did all things well. 
History has but few such figures to show us, 

B 2 



20 FREDERICK : 

and the record of their lives is soon told. 
The evil genius of many of the great characters 
of story has filled innumerable volumes, but a 
few lines will keep green the memory of our 
Sydneys and our Bayards. As with nations, 
we say they are happiest who afford least 
material to the historian ; so perhaps with 
great men, in proportion to the nobility and 
simplicity of their lives the work of the bio- 
grapher becomes easier, and truly of the 
Emperor Frederick, we may say as of few 
others who have lived so much before the 

world : 

"He kept 

" The whitness of his soul, and thus men o'er 
him wept." 

In the year that ushered in the birth of the 
young Prince, the most sanguine of patriots 
would scarcely have ventured to prophecy the 
imminent ascendency of the Prussian star. 
King Frederick William III., who had already 
occupied the throne for thirty-four years, had 
seen the disastrous days of Jena and Auerstadt, 
and had devoted himself to the great task of 
the restoration of his country. He had shared 
in the victories which ended in the overthrow 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 21 

of Napoleon, and after the long and troublous 
reign, which he epitomized himself in one 
proverbial sentence, " My days in unrest, but 
my hope in God," desired only to end his life in 
peace. 

The dream of German unity had made but 
little progress. It was the interest of Austria 
and Russia to see that their Prussian neighbour 
should find no means of expansion, and the 
conservatism of the smaller German states 
looked with no friendly eye on a capital where 
the spirit of opposition to the old order was 
most rife, and the speeches and writings of the 
new school of politicians assumed a more violent 
character. 

The Crown Prince had married some eight 
years previously Princess Elizabeth of Bavaria, 
and the marriage had remained childless. His 
younger brother Prince William was therefore 
the heir presumptive, and it was the occasion 
for no ordinary rejoicing when his marriage 
with Princess Augusta of Saxe Weimar was 
blessed two years later with the birth of a son, 
and a direct hereditary succession was thus 
guaranteed in the house of Hohenzollern. 

The Prince was born in the palace to which 



22 FREDERICK : 

as Emperor he gave the name of Friedrichskron, 
known till then only as the New Palace of Sans 
Souci, the largest and the finest of the many 
palaces of Potsdam, to which his parents had 
then retired on account of the cholera, which 
was raging at that time in Berlin. It was built 
by Frederick the Great immediately after the 
close of the Seven Years' War, to the confusion 
of those who thought that his treasury was 
exhausted, but which had hitherto been little 
used. It was this palace that in later years, as 
Crown Prince, the Emperor Frederick made his 
summer residence ; here most of his children 
were born, here all the interests and pursuits of 
country life were fostered and enjoyed, here 
were the brightest associations of a happy 
home, and it was hither that he came to die. 
The Mark of Brandenburg is for the most part 
a flat unlovely district of sandy plains alternat- 
ing with wide tracts of fir forest, but, in the 
neighbourhood of Potsdam, the river Havel, 
widening- in a series of considerable lakes sur- 
rounded with undulating wooded shores, has 
formed' a pleasant oasis, and there are few 
prettier spots in the early summer months than 
the gardens and Park of Sans Souci, at the 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 23 

further end of which, about a mile and a half 
from Potsdam, stands the great Rococo Palace 
of Friedrichskron. 

The christening took place on the 13th of 
November, in the presence of the King, the 
Crown Prince, and all the members of the 
Royal Family. The absent god-parents, the 
Empresses of Austria and Russia, were repre- 
sented by their respective Ambassadors, and 
the baby Prince received from Bishop Eylert 
the names of Frederick William Nicholas 
Charles. 

The Princes of the House of Hohenzollern 
become soldiers almost from the cradle. Prince 
William, who had, while still a mere boy, 
entered Paris with the Allies, took a keen de- 
light in the military education of his son, and 
the little Prince was only eight years old when, 
together with two young playfellows,* he was 
put through his drill in a miniature private's 
uniform, and acquitted himself as a most cap- 
able recruit, under the orders of his instructor, 
Sergeant Bludau. Of the qualities which he 
inherited from his parents it is not necessary to 
speak. The courage, simplicity, integrity, and 
* Kudolf v. Zastrovp and Count Adolf Konisrsmark. 



,24 FREDERICK : 

kindliness of the aged Emperor, who was in a 
truer sense than any who have borne the title 
the " father of his people," are known to all the 
present generation. But of the friends and 
playfellows of his youth many have now passed 
away, and it may be interesting here to record 
that there was no one to whom, in these early 
days, he was more fondly attached than Princess 
Charlotte of Prussia, who afterwards became 
Hereditary Princess of Meiningen, and mother 
of his future son-in-law. He was also much 
with his cousins Prince Frederick Charles and 
the two sisters of the latter-. Princess, after- 
wards Queen Elizabeth, the wife of King 
Frederick William IV., had no children of her 
own, but it was her especial pleasure to gather 
her young nephews and nieces round her, and 
be a second mother to them. 

Prince Frederick William never forgot her 
kindness to him as a child ; and when she died 
at Dresden, in 1873, after twelve years of 
widowhood, he took upon himself the duties of 
a son, and performed the last offices of kindness, 
bringing home her body to lay it beside her 
husband in the Church of Peace, at Sans Souci. 
The friendship formed in childhood for his 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 25 

cousin, Prince Frederick Charles, continued into 
later life, when their mimic games of war, with 
their respective corps of cadets, became the 
grim earnest of the battlefield. They were 
appointed Field-Marshals upon the same day, 
when the news of the fall of Metz reached 
the headquarters of the German Army at Ver- 
sailles ; and by a singular coincidence their 
deaths took place on the same day of the month, 
and at the same hour of the day, at the same 
interval of three years that had separated their 
births. 

The education of Prince Frederick William 
began under the auspices of Frau von Clause- 
witz, widow of the well-known General, and 
Madame Godet, his governess, a Swiss lady 
from Neufchatel, whose son became, a few years 
later, the Prince's first tutor. In 1844, when 
he had reached his thirteenth year, the noted 
German Hellenist, Dr. Ernest Curtius, was 
chosen to superintend his studies. No branch 
of general culture was neglected ; music and 
dancing, gymnastics and fencing, were all 
taught betimes, and the handicraft of book- 
binding was selected for the young Prince 
to master, in accordance with the family 



26 FREDERICK : 

tradition that all the Princes of the Royal 
House shall acquire practical knowledge of 
some trade. 

In the meantime several events occurred to 
break the quiet routine of study. In 1838 a 
sister was born, and christened Louise, after 
her grandmother, the Queen, whose beauty, 
courage and misfortunes, have made her the 
heroine of Prussian patriotism. In 1840 King 
Frederick William III. died, and the little 
Prince was, for the first time, brought face to 
face with death. In accordance with precedent, 
Prince William now assumed the title of Prince 
of Prussia, and he was appointed by his brother, 
who had ascended the throne under the name 
of Frederick William IV., Stadtholder of Pome- 
rania. On reaching his tenth year, Prince 
Frederick William received a commission as 
Second Lieutenant in the First Regiment of the 
Infantry of the Guard. He was presented to 
the officers of the regiment by his uncle, the 
King, who said to him : " You are but a little 
fellow as yet, Fritz, but do your best to get to 
know these gentlemen, and some day you will 
be their overseer, however much they may now 
see over you. - ' 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 27 

A military instructor was now attached to 
the Prince in the person of Colonel, afterwards 
General von Unruh, in company with whom, or 
with his tutor, Dr. Curtius, he began to make 
short journeys in the neighbouring provinces and 
states. Thus he visited the towns and islands 
of the Baltic, and made walking tours through 
the Harz, Thuringia, Saxon Switzerland, and 
the Giant Mountains, acquiring that taste for 
travel which he preserved in later years, and 
studying by personal observation " the cities 
and customs of many men." Otherwise, his 
summers were spent at Babelsberg, in the 
neighbourhood of Potsdam, the country seat 
which the Prince of Prussia had himself 
planned and executed, and which became his 
favourite country residence as King and 
Emperor. 

It was here that the young Prince remained 
in seclusion with his mother through the 
troubled days of 1848, when the February 
Revolution at Paris gave the signal for out- 
breaks in other continental cities. The con- 
cessions which the Liberal party had anticipated 
from the reiofiiincv- Sovereign had not been 
granted, and the insurrectionists were for a 



28 FREDERICK : 

time masters of the situation in Berlin. A 
spirit of self-sacrifice induced the Prince of 
Prussia to take upon himself a large portion 
of the popular resentment, and the future hero 
of German unity lightened his brother's task 
in re-establishing order, by withdrawing for 
a while from Berlin, and appearing to re- 
move in his person the menace of the military 
element, against which a great part of the 
general discontent was directed. His intrepid 
character, however, resented giving colour 
to the appearance of flight, and he only 
left on receiving written orders from the 
King to proceed immediately upon a special 
mission to London, and report to the Court 
of St. James on recent developments at 
Berlin. 

Prince Frederick William was then just at 
that age when, on the threshold of manhood, 
the mind is most impressionable, and, unbiased 
by the teachings of past experience, is apt to 
review with an immediate judgment the merits 
of current events. The scenes which he had 
lately witnessed could not fail to have a deep 
and lasting effect upon his generous and 
reflective character. The Throne recovered its 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 29 

ascendancy, but only after large concessions 
and a reform of the Constitution ; the national 
voice had found expression, and a new phase 
of national development opened for the new 
generation. Early in June the Prince of 
Prussia returned, and signified his adhesion to 
the remodelled Constitution ; the Princess, with 
her children, travelled as far as Magdeburg to 
greet him on his return, and the rest of the 
summer was spent at Babelsberg, where the 
young Prince was prepared for his Confirmation, 
which took place in the chapel at Charlotten- 
burg on September 29th. In the Spring of 
the following year, he was present at the 
solemn audience at which King Frederick 
William IV. refused the Imperial Crown of 
Germany, which the Frankfort Parliament 
proposed to confer upon him, little antici- 
pating how fully, some twenty years later, 
the words which fell from his uncle's lips 
were destined to be realized : " An Imperial 
Crown must be ivon upon the field of 
battle" 

The Prince was now in his eighteenth year, 
the age at which the Poyal Princes enter upon, 
active service in the army. His military. 



30 FREDERICK ; 

education had been completed under General 
von Unruh, and, afterwards, under Major von 
Natzmer and Colonel Fischer — and so the 
chapter of boyhood closes. It cannot close 
better than with a quotation from a letter 
which the Princess of Prussia wrote to the 
playfellow and comrade of her son, Rudolf von 
Zastrow, who was also entering the world, 
and about to pass his examinations for the 
army, for it illustrates the nature of the 
home-influences under which their youth had 
passed. 

" Life is full of difficulties and seductions of every 
kind, we must therefore daily pray for strength to 
combat them, that we may remain true to our 
principles. The superficialities of life often neutralize 
our taste for serious occupation ; we must remember 
that we have something to learn every day, and that we 
shall not retain what we have learnt, if we fail to make 
our knowledge complete. What is most of all to be 
desired is the harmonious union of character and heart. 
Happy are they to whom God grants these qualities. 
I believe that you possess them, My prayer is that 
you may always be a son to me, and that separation 
may not weaken this tie. In me you will always find 
a friend, a mother. And next I pray you always to 
remain a friend, a brother, to my son. Princes seldom 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 31 

have real friends. His heart requires a friendship of 
this kind, and you may serve him in a number of ways. 
You have promised me this, and I rely upon your 
gratitude as well as your word of honour." * 



* This letter is given in full in " L'Empereur Fre'deric," by 
Edouard Simon, from which this extract is translated. 



II. 

1848—1858. 



II. 

1848—1858. 

Ox the 3rd of May, 1849, Prince Frederick 
William entered upon active service with the 
regiment to which he was attached. The 
Prince of Prussia introduced him to the 
assembled officers with a few spirited words, 
in which he spoke feelingly of the admirable 
discipline shown by the army in the recent 
troubles, and of the sympathy and fidelity 
which his old comrades had testified towards 
himself. " I entrust my son to you," he said, 
" in the hope that he will learn obedience, and 
so some day know how to command ; " and to 
his son he simply said, " Now go and do your 
duty ! " A month later the Prince was 
advanced to the rank of First Lieutenant. The 
Prince of Prussia was at this period appointed 
to command the army sent to put down the 

c 2 



3G FREDERICK : 

military insurrection in Baden. He was 
accompanied on this expedition by the young 
Prince Frederick Charles, who was three years 
senior to his cousin. Twenty years later the 
two Princes received the Field-Marshal's baton 
upon the same day ; and now the elder Prince 
was to see soldiering in earnest for the first 
time. But it was judged prudent not to send 
the future heir to the Prussian throne upon the 
ungrateful mission of repressing an internal 
revolt. 

In October, upon completing his eighteenth 
year, Prince Frederick William came of age, 
according to precedent in the royal family of 
Prussia, and was solemnly invested with the 
Order of the Black Eagle, the highest Prussian 
order, which corresponds most nearly to the 
Garter in England. The young Prince's first 
quoted public utterance is the message in 
which he thanked the Municipality of Potsdam 
for their congratulations on this occasion : "I 
am still very young," he said, " but I will pre- 
pare myself with love and devotion for my high 
calling, and endeavour some day to fulfil these 
anticipations which will then become a duty 
entrusted to me by God." 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 37 

After a few months of service with his 
regiment, he left for the University of Bonn, 
attended by Colonel Fischer and an Aide-de- 
camp. It was a new departure, and typical of 
the changed order of ideas, that a Prince of the 
royal blood should enter as a student at a public 
university. The course of studies arranged for 
him formed no exception to the ordinary routine; 
and though he resided in the old Electoral 
Palace, his intercourse with the other students 
remained unrestricted ; he attended the lectures 
of Dahlmann, Arndt, and Perthes, and com- 
pleted .his education in history, law, and 
literature. But his studies were not confined 
to the curriculum of the University. Mr. 
Copland Perry, who was at that time 
residing in Bonn, was invited to assist him 
in mastering the English language and litera- 
ture. Mr. Perry writes : "At the Prince's 
request I attended on him three times a 
week, and had the honour of directing" his 
studies of English history and literature, in 
which he took a very special interest. His 
love for England, and his profound admiration 
for our Queen, Avere most remarkable, and 
tended, of course, to render our intercourse 



38 FREDERICK .' 

the more interesting 1 and confidential. What- 
ever information I was able to afford him 
about English political and social life was 
received by him with the greatest eagerness, 
and, when more solid study was concluded, we 
amused ourselves by writing imaginary letters 
to ministers and leaders of society." 

Shortly afterwards the Prince of Prussia, 
who was in 1849 appointed Military Governor 
of the Khine Provinces and Westphalia, took 
up his residence at Coblenz. The reactionary 
policy of the Manteuffel Cabinet did not meet 
with his approval ; he considered that the 
pledges of 1848 must be respected, and was 
glad to absent himself for a while from the 
Capital, where the gatherings of the Liberal 
chiefs and sympathizers at his palace were 
sure to attract attention. The visits of Prince 
Frederick William to Coblenz were frequent, 
and led to many acquaintances and conversa- 
tions on social and political topics with the 
remarkable men the Princess of Prussia 
gathered round her Court, During his 
university career the area of his travels, which 
had hitherto been confined to German territory, 
was considerably extended. In 1850 he visited 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 3d-- 

Switzerland, Northern Italy, and the South of 
France, The following year he accompanied 
his parents to England to witness the opening 
of the Great Exhibition. May-day, 1851, was 
a proud day for England. The continent had 
hardly recovered from the recent shocks of 
revolution ; France, Austria, Germany, and the 
Italian States, had alike been torn by domestic 
strife, but in London all the nations of the earth 
had met together in friendly competition. The 
scheme had not passed without considerable 
opposition in England itself, but the energy and 
genius of the Prince Consort, the initiator of 
this international festival, had prevailed, and 
set an example which other nations would not 
be slow to follow. The young Prince, who also 
paid a hasty visit to Liverpool and to the Isle 
of Wight, carried back to Germany a deep 
impression of the wealth and stability of 
England, of the free spirit and reasonableness 
which governed her institutions, and above all 
a charming domestic picture of her happy Court, 
and of a little Princess, who was then just ten 
years old. He was, however, patriotic enough 
to say that he preferred Babelsberg to Windsor. 
Later in the year he accompanied his father on 



40 FREDERICK : 

a visit to Russia, where he was appointed 
Honorary Colonel of the Eleventh Regiment of 
Hussars. He rejoined his regiment at Potsdam 
in time to take part in the Autumn Manoeuvres, 
and was advanced to the rank of Captain, 
returning soon afterwards to Bonn to conclude 
his university course. 

At the university he first laid the foundation 
of that universal popularity which characterized 
the whole of his subsequent career. He 
succeeded in so merging the Prince in the 
student, that he was able to enter heart and 
soul into the spirit of university life. He had 
a word for everyone, and by those numerous 
excursions in the surrounding Rhineland, 
which he so particularly appreciated, he had 
become a familiar figure in all the country side. 
It was a source of universal regret in Bonn, 
when, at Easter, 1852, the short space of time 
which could be spared from the Prince's busy 
life drew to its close, and town and university 
vied with one another in the ovations which 
marked his departure. 

Returning to his regiment, the Prince devoted 
himself to military duties. He was now a 
Captain, and the personal interest which he took 



CROWN miNCE AND EMrEROR. 41 

in each individual member of his company 
acquired him a proverbial popularity. During 
the Autumn Manoeuvres of 1853, when he was 
promoted to the rank of Major, he learned the 
duties of an Aide-de-camp, being attached to 
the Staff of Count V. J. Groeben, who at that 
time commanded the Corps of Guards.. The 
Prince's life was one of constant activity : under 
General von Key her he was instructed in the 
special branches of the Staff; while he found 
time to acquire a thorough knowledge of the 
working of the various civil departments, and 
devoted himself to the study of the internal 
administration, under the guidance of the Chief 
President of the Province of Brandenburg. 
During the Summer of this year he had accom- 
panied his father to the Manoeuvres of the 
Austrian Army, and was assigned by the 
Emperor Franz Joseph the honorary command 
of the Twentieth Kegiment of Infantry. About 
this period he was also initiated into the 
mysteries of Freemasonry, and the Prince of 
Prussia, who had taken this influential Order 
under his protection, availed himself of the 
occasion to protest, in his speech, against the 
attempt made by a certain section in the 



42 FREDERICK : 

country, to cast discredit on this ancient 
institution. In December he had an attack of 
inflammation of the lungs, and after his recovery 
it was considered advisable for him to spend a 
Winter in the South, and thus, a long cherished 
plan of a tour in Italy was carried into effect. 

The royal party were conveyed, from Trieste 
to Ancona in an Austrian man of war, and 
proceeded thence direct to Home. The old 
Papal Court was then in all its brilliancy, and 
Rome was ' still the city of Corinne and Trans- 
formation. No lines of railway pierced the 
circuit of her walls, there was no gas in the 
narrow alleys, but the quaint old gilded coaches 
of the Cardinals, the gay uniforms of the 
Papal troops, the numberless religious orders, 
the costume of the people, which was then not 
confined to professional models and beggars, 
filled her streets with colour, and the Carnival 
was still a national fete. Italian Unity had 
assuredly no warmer sympathizer than Prince 
Frederick William, but the Rome of his 
impressions never ceased, to be an interesting 
and charming recollection. He was repeatedly 
received with every mark of appreciation by 
Pope Pius IX., who preserved a warm regard 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 43 

for his royal guest, which the grave issues of 
later years between Prussia and the Vatican in 
no way diminished, and he assisted at the 
Consistory in which the present Pontiff received 
the Cardinal's Hat. The story is told that 
at their first interview the Pope held out his 
hand to the young Prince for the customary 
kiss of homage, but the latter, as representative 
of one of the two great Protestant States, did 
not feel called upon to render this salute, and 
warmly grasped the extended hand. The 
Pope, whose sense of humour was well known, 
always at subsequent interviews greeted the 
young Prince on entering with his hand behind 
his back. The journey was extended to Naples 
and Sicily, and the royal party returned to 
Pome on their way northward to witness the 
Easter ceremonies. 

After six months' service with the Artillery, 
Prince Frederick William was transferred to 
the Dragoons of the Guard. It may be well 
here to explain that the Guards form an entire 
army corps, including, therefore, infantry, 
artillery, and cavalry of every arm ; they 
are distributed between Berlin, Potsdam, and 
the neighbouring fortress of Spandau. The 



44 FREDERICK : 

infantry regiment to which the Prince was 
first attached is quartered in Potsdam; the 
Dragoons of the Guard, consisting then of one 
regiment only, but now of two, are stationed 
in Berlin. 

Colonel von Griesheim, an old friend of the 
Prince of Prussia, who commanded the regiment, 
has left a record of an interview which he had 
with the Princess, at the time they entrusted 
their son to his care. The Princess, he says, 
begged him in no way to spare his new officer, 
but to let him enter into every detail of duty, 
in order that he might really learn to appreciate 
the hard work which military service entailed. 
She bade him never lose sight of the fact that 
he was to teach his future Sovereign, and that it 
was essential to his forming a just appreciation of 
things, that he should see their working side. 
The Prince of Prussia, who came in at the close 
of the interview, said, with a smile, " I taught 
him his business, and now he is to teach our 
son ! " 

The Colonel most conscientiously carried out 
his trust, and the Prince entered upon the 
routine of his duties as Captain. The riding 
lessons, the horse-breaking, the stable drill, the 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 45 

gymnastic courses, the stores of his squadron, 
were all handed over to his personal control and 
management, and so quickly and practically did 
he master the duties of a cavalry officer, that 
on the 31st August, 1855, he was appointed to 
command the regiment. About this time an 
officer, who has since been somewhat talked of, 
was appointed Aide-de-camp to the Prince ; a 
man of few Avords, but striking lucidity of 
expression and determination of character, and 
an enthusiastic lover of music, whose age was 
just that of the century. His name was 
Colonel von Moltke, and he was at the time 
Chief of the Staff of the Fourth Army Corps. 

During the Summer of 1855, the Prince went 
for a second time to England. Perhaps on the 
occasion of his former visit, four years pre- 
viously, a plan had already suggested itself to 
him which he now determined to realize, of 
asking the hand of the Princess Royal in 
marriage. At any rate he now expressed a 
wish to visit the Queen and the Prince Consort, 
who invited him to stay at Balmoral ; and on 
the 20th of September the Prince Consort 
wrote to his old friend and confidant, Baron 
Stockmar, to tell him that the proposal, made 



46 FREDERICK : 

with the concurrence of the King, as well as of 
the Prince of Prussia, had been accepted, sub- 
ject, of course, to the consent of the Princess 
Royal herself, from whom, he added, he did not 
anticipate any hesitation. It was, however, 
not to be broken to her till after her Confirma- 
tion in the following Spring, and the marriage 
was on no account to take place until the 
Princess had passed her seventeenth birthday. 
But with all these excellent dispositions the 
natural impatience of the Prince prevailed, and 
on the 29th of September, when the royal party 
were riding unattended over the moors, a spray 
of the rare white heather, which the Prince 
dismounted to pluck and offer to his future 
bride, drew the secret from . his lips, and the 
happy alliance was arranged, not by the 
manoeuvring of diplomacy or the scheming of 
politicians, but naturally, and as in the every- 
day world, by the spontaneous impulse of two 
young hearts towards each other. 

On his return to Bonn the Prince unburdened 
his heart to Mr. Perry, whom he had from the 
outset treated with the greatest confidence, and 
to whom he had spoken of his hope of winning 
the hand of the Princess Royal. "It was not 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 47 

politics," he said, " it was not ambition ; it was 
my heart." 

On the 2nd of October the Prince Consort 
wrote to Baron Stockmar : " Prince Frederick 
William left us yesterday .... The young 
people are genuinely in love with one another : 
the guilelessness, simplicity, and unselfishness 
of the young man are quite touching .... We 
are quite unprepared for any public announce- 
ment of the marriage at present. The secret 
must be kept tout lien que Trial" But the 
secret leaked out, as such secrets always do ; 
the visits of the future Sovereign of Prussia 
were too significant to be disregarded. 

The engagement of Princess Louise to 
the Prince Begent, now the reigning Grand 
Duke of Baden, took place on the same clay, 
September 29, at Coblenz. The following year 
the Prince returned to England, in May, where 
he was joined shortly afterwards by his future 
brother-in-law, and the two Princes received 
honorary degrees from the University of Ox- 
ford, and were present at the festivities of 
Commemoration. In August he was for the 
first time entrusted with a public mission, and 
sent to represent the King of Moscow, at the 



48 FREDERICK : 

coronation of the Emperor Alexander II. , who 
had succeeded his father in the previous year. 
On all these journeys he was accompanied by 
his new Aide-de-camp, who was about this time 
promoted to the rank of Major-General. The 
latter has testified in his correspondence to the 
remarkable natural tact and the happy faculty 
of the apropos displayed by the Prince in 
meeting and conversing with the number of 
notabilities who were here for the first time 
presented to him. 

On the 20th of September the marriage of 
Princess Louise with the Grand Duke of Baden 
took place, and shortly afterwards Prince 
Frederick William received the command of the 
Eleventh Regiment of Infantry, which forms 
part of the garrison of Breslau, in Silesia. He 
had some time previously returned from his 
short term of service with the Cavalry, to the 
First Infantry of the Guards, and qualified 
himself to take command of the regiment. No 
sooner, however, had the Prince taken up his 
quarters at Breslau, than another journey to 
England was determined on, and the visit, 
whose ostensible object was to congratulate the 
Princess upon her birthday, extended over a 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 49 

month. He returned by Paris, where he was 
most warmly received by the Emperor 
Napoleon III. and the Empress Eugenie. A 
letter from the latter describing the visit is not 
without its curious interest, read in the lioht 
of subsequent events. " The Prince is a tall, 
finely proportioned man, nearly a head taller 
than the Emperor, smart, fair, with light 
yellow moustache, a German, as Tacitus 
describes them, chivalrous in manner, a ad with 
a touch of Hamlet about him. His companion, 
a General Moltke, is a gentleman of few words, 
but nothing less than a dreamer ; always 
attentive and commanding attention, he sur- 
prises you by the most striking observations. 
An imposing race, these Germans. Louis says, 
the race of the future. But we have not got 
to that yet." 

Prince Frederick William remained with his 
regiment in Silesia until September, 1857, 
finding time, however, in the Summer for 
another visit to England. It was originally 
contemplated that the marriage should take 
place this year, but the health of King Frederick 
William IV., who had for some time been ailing, 
gave rise to considerable anxiety, and it was 

D 



50 FREDERICK I 

decided to postpone it for a while. At length 
the malady, which had affected the brain, was 
declared to be incurable, and on the 23rd of 
October the Prince of Prussia was named Regent 
for three months. This term was subsequently 
prolonged from time to time, and in the follow- 
ing year, when the King left Berlin for Italy, 
the Prince Regent assumed the full responsi- 
bility of government, which he retained until 
that Monarch's death. The marriage was now 
definitively fixed for January 25, 1858. 

It was with sincere rep-ret that Prince 
Frederick William took leave of the officers 
and men of his Silesian regiment. Silesia is 
the favourite province of the kingdom ; the 
wealthiest and most influential of the Prussian 
nobility have their country seats there ; the 
forests offer great attractions to the sportsman ; 
and Breslau itself is within easy distance of 
the pleasant country sloping upwards to the 
giant mountains which mark the boundary of 
Bohemia. Besides, he had greatly appreciated 
the freedom of life which his sojourn here had 
permitted, and was much attached to and be- 
loved by the regiment he had commanded. 
The close of his farewell speech was remem- 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 51 

bered a few years later, when, in the campaign 
of '66, he was entrusted with the command of 
the Second Army, and with orders to protect 
the province of Silesia : " I shall never forget 
these days, nor you," he said ; " and my ardent 
desire, which it would give me the greatest joy 
to see accomplished, is that I may some day 
receive with you — who are, for the most part, 
my pupils — the baptism of blood before the 
enemy." 

Meanwhile, the day fixed for the wedding 
ceremony drew near. On the 23rd of January, 
Prince Frederick William arrived in England 
to claim his bride. London had been already 
several days en fete. On the evening of the 
23rd there was a State performance at Her 
Majesty's Theatre, where the Prince was, for 
the first time, present during the festival pro- 
ceedings, sitting beside the Princess Royal ; 
and rarely has London witnessed such an en- 
thusiastic scene. The singing of the Nation d 
Anthem was the signal for a burst of cheering, to 
which the Queen graciously responded. A cry 
of "Princess" then rang through the house. The 
Queen beckoned the Princess Royal to the front 
of the box, and there she curtseyed her acknow- 

d 2 



52 FREDERICK I 

ledgments amidst a display of feeling which 
made the pretty episode for ever memorable. 
The wedding took place at the Chapel Royal, 
St. James's, on the following Monday. The 
accounts of the ceremony, read in the light 
and shadow of all that has passed since, are 
eminently touching from the genuine and 
natural feeling evinced, and an eye-witness, 
describing the scene as the procession left the 
Chapel Royal, wrote : " The light of happiness 
in the eyes of the bride appealed to the most 
reserved among the spectators, and an audible 
' God bless you ! ' passed from mouth to mouth 
along the line." The details of the ceremony, 
recorded by a loving hand in the Queen's diary, 
and published in Sir Theodore Martin's life of 
the Prince Consort, are too well-known to call 
for reproduction here. It shall only be men- 
tioned that the wedding rings were made of 
pure Silesian gold, and that the eight brides- 
maids — chosen from the fairest daughters of 
England — wore the emblematic white heather, 
in memory of the stranger-Prince's wooing. 
Throughout the country in England the day 
was celebrated as a national holiday by public 
rejoicings and free dinners to the poor ; and in 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 53 

the evening London was a blaze of illuminations, 
for the match had become thoroughly popular. 
Parliament had met the proposed vote with 
scarcely a dissentient voice ; and the young 
Prince had won a place in the heart of the 
nation, which learned to appreciate him ever 
more and more as time went on. 

The short honeymoon was spent at Windsor, 
and the departure was fixed for the second of 
February. The farewell procession left Buck- 
ingham Palace, and proceeded by the Strand, 
St. Paul's, and London Bridge, to the station 
in the Kent Road, where the royal party were 
to take train for Gravesend. The Prince 
Consort, with his two eldest sons, accompanied 
Prince Frederick William and his bride, while 
the Queen watched from the balcony of Buck- 
ingham Palace till the procession wound out of 
sight. The snow was falling fast, but they 
drove in open carriages to see the last of home. 
Every point of vantage along the route was 
filled to overflowing, and it seemed as if the 
whole nation felt keenly the sense of parting, 
and had come out in its thousands to speed on 
her way, with their love and kindly solicitude, 
one who, though still almost a child, was leav- 



54 FREDERICK ; 

ing her country for ever, to make her home in 
an alien land. It is a solemn moment, hard to 
realize for those who stay at home, that in 
which we turn our backs for ever on the only 
life we have known, and go to meet the untried 
and the new, to dwell with .strange faces, 
different ideas and ideals, unfamiliar asso- 
ciations. 

At Gravesend, the royal yacht, Victoria and 
Albert, was waiting to receive them ; and the 
closing: scene in England was thus described in 
the Times of the 23rd of February : — 

" In compliance with injunctions issued just before 
the arrival of the royal party, there was little cheering 
on the pier itself. Still, however, it could not altogether 
prevent the cheers which greeted the bride, as she stood 
leaning on her husband's arm. ... Her royal husband 
was, of course, received with a most marked welcome, 
Avhich he seemed to feel ; though, as usual, he always 
left his bride to receive the ovations offered, and 
watched her every movement with the most affection- 
ate solicitude. 

" On the affecting farewell we need not dwell. 
Every heart can sympathize with them, not as rulers 
or princes, but as a father who parts from his eldest 
child — with young brothers, who see their sister leave 
them for the first time, to cast her lot for ever in a 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 55 

land of strangers. The Prince Consort was grave, 
but composed, though the effort it cost him to maintain 
an appearance of serenity was visible to all. With less 
self-command, the Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred 

made little attempt to conceal their grief As 

the paddles went round, the quick flashes of broad red 
flame through the snowstorm, followed by the sullen 
boom of cannon, showed that old Tilbury was at last 
saluting for the departure. The Prince Consort waved 
his hand to the Royal Bridegroom again and again, 
but kept his composure ; but not so did the young 
Princes, whose grief seemed only redoubled by the 
tokens of farewell round them. Neither could conceal 
his sorrow, and neither tried to do so, but stood 

brushing away the tears from their eyes On 

such an occasion there was not many who could resist 
the contagious influence of a sorrow so innocent and so 
sincere, and there were few who looked with dry eyes 
on this departure of the daughter of England." 



III. 

1858—1863. 



III. 

1858—1863. 

The bride and bridegroom's journey home was 
one long triumphal progress. At Herbesthal, 
where the German frontier was first reached, 
Count Redern awaited them with a message of 
welcome from the King. At Aix-la-Chapelle ; 
at Cologne, where they halted for the night ; 
at Hanover, where they alighted to pay a brief 
visit to the King; at Magdeburg, where a 
second night was passed, deputations were 
awaiting to receive them — triumphal arches 
and illuminations testified the enthusiasm and 
loyalty of the populations. A brilliant recep- 
tion was prepared for them at Potsdam, where 
they arrived on the 6 th February ; and the 
following day, a Sunday, was devoted to rest 
after their eventful journey. On Monday, the 
8th, the solemn entry into the capital took 



60 FREDERICK : 

place. The sixteen miles from Potsdam to the 
capital were traversed by road. At the Belle- 
vue Palace, situated in the Thiergarten, or park, 
about a mile from the Brandenburg Gate, the 
King was waiting to greet his nephew and 
niece. After a short interval the procession 
reformed, the bells rang, the canons fired 
salutes, and the state coach, drawn by eight 
horses, arrived at the Brandenburg Gate. 
Here the royal pair were welcomed in the name 
of the garrison by the venerable Field-Marshal, 
Count Wrangel. A detachment of the Life 
Guards rode before and after the carriage ; 
while the Prince's old regiment, the Dragoons 
of the Guard, formed the rest of the escort. 
Forty out -riders and deputations from the 
various Guilds headed the procession ; and so, 
between a surging mass of spectators, they 
passed down the Linden Avenue, the whole 
length of which was hung with British and 
Prussian flags to the old palace and its eastern 
extremity, where the Prince of Prussia was 
waiting to receive them at the foot of the great 
staircase. After the ceremonial introductions 
had been made, the Prince and Princess 
appeared on the balcony, to receive the homage 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 61 

of the people, and watch the Guilds march past. 
In the evening they drove through the city, 
where there was not a window unilluminated, 
and no house so poor that it had not some 
decoration in honour of the festal day. It was 
still hard Winter in the northern city, but its 
welcome was warm and generous.. 

After a short residence in the old Schloss, 
a palace in the Linden Avenue, close to the 
opera-house, and facing the arsenal, which had 
been enlarged and restored for King Frederick 
William III. , was assigned to the young couple, 
where they took up their abode in the early 
Winter, and ever after, as Crown Prince and 
Princess, continued to live when in Berlin. 
The first Summer was spent at the Prince of 
Prussia's country seat of Babelsberg, the home 
of Prince Frederick William's boyhood ; and 
here, at Whitsuntide, they received a hasty 
visit from the Prince Consort, who returned in 
August with the Queen. This visit, the bright 
impression left by which is fully recorded in 
the Queen's diary, was the only one which Her 
Majesty was able to pay her daughter in her 
new home, until the sad and memorable journey 
of this year, when the shadow of death was 



62 FREDERICK ! 

already darkening its threshold, and the streets 
of the capital were still draped with black in 
mourning for the first German Emperor. 

An heir to the Hohenzollern dynasty was 
born on the 27th of January, 1859 — the reign- 
ing Emperor, William II. The apartments at 
Babelsberg now became too small for the 
extended requirements of the young household, 
and from henceforth the New Palace, near 
Potsdam, became their Summer home. And 
here it was that the Crown Princess, as she 
soon afterwards came to be called, was able to 
set the example of that helpful and happy 
country life which she had learned in England to 
value, so that it was not long before its simple 
domestic character became proverbial, and 
exercised a far-reaching influence. Under her 
fostering hand, the old formal pleasure-grounds 
and the neglected gardens became a pattern of 
taste and arrangement. In their neighbouring- 
farm of Bornstedt the Prince himself superin- 
tended every detail, and taught himself the 
management of land and labour, while the 
dairy and the poultry-yard were the particular 
care of the Princess. All the inhabitants of 
the neighbouring villages quickly learned to 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR, 63 

appreciate their kindly solicitude ; the sanita- 
tion of dwellings, the care for the sick and 
aged among their tenants, the schools, the 
children's holidays, all engaged their sympa- 
thetic interest. One of the Prince's most 
striking characteristics was his love for the 
people, his genuine sympathy with the humbler 
walks of life. It was his especial pleasure to 
visit the village school and listen to the 
children's lessons, and sometimes he would take 
the teacher's place and put the questions him- 
self. It must have been on such an occasion 
that the pretty reply was given which is 
recorded in the following story : — " To what 
kingdom does this belong ? " the Prince had 
enquired of a little girl, touching a medal sus- 
pended to his chain. " To the mineral king- 
dom," was the answer. " And this ? " pointing 
to a flower. " To the vegetable kingdom." 
" And I myself," he asked ; to what kingdom 
do I belong ? " "To the kingdom of heaven," 
was the child's reply. 

Meanwhile, there were duties, and important 
ones, to perform. On the day of his marriage 
the Prince had been promoted to the rank of 
Major-General, and when, during the Austrian 



64 FREDERICK [ 

and Italian War of 1859, it was determined to 
mobilize a portion of the Prussian troops, he 
was appointed to command the First Infantry 
Division, an appointment confirmed and made 
definite on the 25th of July. The Peace of 
Villafranca brought the war to an abrupt con- 
clusion before the Prussian mobilization was 
complete, but the experience had revealed 
serious defects in the existing state of the 
Army, and a Commission was immediately 
organized to consider the remodelling of the 
entire military system. The Prince assisted at 
all the deliberations of this Commission, and 
after its sittings were closed he started with 
the Princess for a tour in Silesia, and, later, 
paid a hasty visit to London. 

The following year a daughter was born, 
Princess Charlotte, now Hereditary Princess of 
Saxe-Meiningen. It was in the late Summer 
of this year that the Queen and the Prince 
Consort paid their last visit together to 
Germany. During their stay at Coburg their 
first grandchild, the little Prince William, was 
brought by his parents to be shown to his 
grandparents. A charming picture is given in 
the Queen's diary of the first appearance of the 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 65 

present German Emperor " in a little white 
dress with black bows." 

The measures of reform in the military 
system, which the Prince Regent held to be 
urgent and indispensable, led to protracted 
discussion, and eventually to the resignation of 
the Liberal Ministry. The question was still 
undecided when, on the 2nd of January, 1861, 
King Frederick William IV. died, and the 
Prince Regent ascended the throne under the 
name of Kine 1 William I. Prince Frederick 
William, who had in the previous year been 
promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General, 
now assumed the title of Crown Prince. The 
Coronation took place with much pomp at 
Konigsberg, on his birthday, the 18th of 
October. He was on this occasion named 
Protector of the ancient University of Konigs- 
berg, as successor to the late King ; and shortly 
afterwards, in accordance with precedent, was 
appointed Stadtholder of Pomerania, though 
the formal announcement did not appear in the 
Gazette till the following year, on the birthday 
of Prince William, the reigning Emperor, when 
it was couched in these terms : — " I have 
appointed your Royal Highness to be Stadt- 

E 



66 FREDERICK. 

holder of Pomerania, and desire thus to mark 
the day, on which so happy an event in the 
history of our family is commemorated, by an 
especial token of my fatherly affection. — 
William." 

Early in the married life of the Crown Prince 
and Princess fell the shadow of those domestic 
sorrows which darkened so many of their years. 
On March 16th, 1801, the Duchess of Kent 
died ; and the loss of " this much-loved grand- 
mother " was soon to be followed by a still 
nearer and more untimely bereavement. It 
was not long after the festivities of the Corona- 
tion that the health of the Prince Consort 
began to give cause for anxiety. It had been 
his special desire that the Crown Princess, who 
had herself been suffering in health, should not 
expose herself to the risk of a Winter journey, 
and she was therefore not present at that sad 
event which 1ms cast a permanent gloom over 
the British Court. Needless to say, the Crown 
Prince crossed to England immediately, to be 
of such service as he might, and to attend the 
funeral of one to whom he had looked up with 
fond affection ; a guide and a counsellor, whose 
moderation and political foresight he never. 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 67 

ceased to regard with respect and veneration. 
Some months later, in the Spring of the follow- 
ing year, he was once more in England, to 
attend, at the special desire of the Queen, the 
opening of the second great International 
Exhibition, for which he was Prussian Com- 
missioner. A few days afterwards he was the 
guest of the Boyal Academy at their annual 
banquet, and in his speech on that occasion he 
naturally referred to the loss which had cast a 
gloom over the festivities, and recalled the debt 
that was owed to the initiator of those inter- 
national gathering's which have done so much 
to promote the interests of commerce, and, by 
teaching the nations to know one another 
better, have so largely contributed to' then- 
peace and welfare. This speech, which later on 
in the evening was characterized by Lord 
Granville as " a speech remarkable for its simple 
and truthful eloquence, and which, by a touch 
of feeling concerning one of whom this country 
is proud, went directly to our hearts/' was a,3 
follows : — 

" Sir Charles Eastlake, your Eoyal Highness, 
my Lords and Gentlemen, — I hope that the grati- 
tude which I feel for the cordiality with which you 

E 2 



68 FREDERICK : 

liave been pleased to propose and receive my health 
will not be measured by the manner in which I return 
thanks for it, as I am sorry to say I fear I shall not be 
able to express my feelings as I should perhaps be able 
to do were I longer accustomed to the language of this 
clear country. I thank you first for the way in which 
you have been kind enough to speak of my near rela- 
tionship to the Eoyal Family of England ; nor can I 
on such an occasion omit referring to the loss which 
this country has recently sustained — a loss felt so 
intimately by your Eoyal Family and also by my own. 
We have all heard from the President how that loss 
has been felt here, and I am happy to say that in my 
own country the same monumental feeling will always 
remain associated with the memory of that dear Prince 
who was taken so suddenly from us. 

" It is not necessary for me to say how happy I am 
to be able to be present at this great festival of peace, 
and at the same time to honour the great undertaking 
which we owe to the master-mind of him I was so 
proud to regard as my father-in-law. I have also, Sir 
Charles, to thank you for the manner in which you 
spoke just now of the state of Art and Science in my 
own country, and especially of the articles sent to the 
Great International Exhibition. I am happy to think, 
from the way in which that reference of the President 
was received, that you all appear to agree with him on 
that point, and I hope I can say that the same feeling 
for English art is reciprocated by my country. Perhaps 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 69 

I may be allowed to say, as I am proud to say, that the 
Princess Royal of your country is one of the first 
representatives of English art in my country. Return- 
ing thanks again for the kind way in which I have 
been received, I can only add that I hope it will be a 
new tie, strengthening those warm sympathies I have 
always felt for this great country ; and, more than this, 
that the strong sympathy which always existed in my 
own heart will in Prussia and the great Fatherland of 
Grermany be more and more, and for ever, retained."* 

No mean achievement in a foreign tongue. 
Among the guests at this Academy banquet, 
of which the Crown Prince ever preserved a 
pleasant recollection, were Thackeray and 
Dickens, the latter of whom responded on 
behalf of Literature. 

A few months later, the Crown Prince was 
again at Konigsberg, where he was solemnly 
invested with the office of High Protector of 
the University, which he had consented to fill 
at the time of the Coronation. His speech on 
this occasion must also be quoted, for in it the 
aims and aspirations which were ever nearest 
to his heart found expression : 

"I looked upon the inheritance to which I have 
* Times, May 5, 1862. 



70 FREDERICK : 

succeeded as a renewed invitation to contribute my aid 
to the development of Art and Science. That which my 
ancestors have established and honourably maintained 
will be sacred no less to me their successor ; and I 
promise, on my part, to support and extend the 
establishment by all the means in my power. I have 
in my mind those great names which have made this 
University illustrious — above all, the name of one 
man, whose teachings have gone forth far over the 
bounds of our Grerman Fatherland, and have enlightened 
the whole round world.* I have myself been a member 
of an University, and I Lnow the spirit by which it is 
animated. The work of the Universities — the develop- 
ment of the mind and the strengthening of character — 
is a noble work, in that they fulfil this mission, not 
only for the advancement of learning, but in the service 
of the State. Thanks to the spirit which fires the 
youth of Germany, I count upon her students under- 
standing and appreciating the greatness of this work." 

During- this Summer, there was consolation 
in the house of mourning ; a second son was 
born, Prince Henry, who has become the sailor- 
Prince of Germany. In the meanwhile, the 
conflict between the Government and the 
Chambers had continued, and was now 
assuming a more acute phase, when in Sep- 

* Kant. 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 71 

tember, 1862, the King called upon Herr von 
Bismarck to take the reins of Government in 
hand. 

From this period began for Prussia that 
wonderful career of success, the extraordinary 
decade which culminated with the declaration 
of the German Empire at Versailles. Of the 
relation of the Crown Prince to political life it 
does not enter into the design of the present 
sketch to speak ; but it may here be placed on 
record that through the quarter of a century 
which followed, he never broke the rule he had 
laid down for himself to refrain from any 
open expression of opinion, and from taking any 
active part in political life. Differences of 
opinion there must always be, and the younger 
generation is not always patient of the views 
and methods of the older. But whatever may 
have been the feelings and sentiments of the 
Crown Prince himself, he cheerfully and 
loyally carried out the arduous duties which it 
fell to him to perform ; and, at a subsequent 
date, when called upon for a time to assume 
the Regency, he faithfully followed in the lines 
that were laid down for him. It armies no 
slight strength of character, and a paramount 



72 FEEDEMCK : 

sense of duty, to have so faithfully appreciated 
and conquered the difficulties of the position 
which it was his lot to fill. 

The Crown Prince and the Princess spent 
the Winter months of this year in a long tour 
through Italy, during which an improvised 
expedition was made to Tunis and Malta. 
They had joined the Prince of Wales on the 
Royal yacht " Osborne," and at Naples cele- 
brated his coming of age on board, returning 
subsequently to Rome, where they took up 
their abode in the Palazzo Cafiarelli. 



rv. 

1864—1869. 



IV. 

1864— 18G9. 

When the Danish War broke out in 1864 the 
Crown Prince had no military command, but 
was attached to the Staff of Field-Marshal 
Count von Wrangel, who had the chief command 
of the united Austrian and Prussian armies. 
His task was to be one of conciliation. The 
allied armies were the allies of circumstance 
rather than of sympathy, and the rivalry of the 
commanding officers, the jealousy of the troops, 
could hardly fail to produce a feeling of friction 
which might, if not counteracted with tact and 
authority, have prejudiced the prospects of the 
campaign. In all such differences and disputes 
the Crown Prince formed the court of reference, 
and the fact that the cessation of hostilities was 
so soon afterwards followed by the outbreak 
of the Austrian and Prussian War proves how 



76 FREDERICK : 

difficult must have been the task imposed upon 
him, and how effectual was the influence of his 
tact and judgment in preventing these dis- 
agreements from assuming an acute phase 
before the war was brought to a successful 
conclusion. At a skirmish before Dlippel he 
was for the first time under fire, and he assisted 
at the storming of the lines of Diippel on the 
18th of April, 1864. Throughout the severe 
Winter campaign he shared every hardship with 
the troops ; he was continually in their midst, 
and the sight of his familiar figure, in the long 
military paletot, with his short pipe in his 
mouth, was a signal for general enthusiasm. 
It was now that the Crown Prince, in co-opera- 
tion with the Crown Princess, who had gone 
to meet him at Hamburg as soon as the 
fighting was over, founded the first of those 
institutions for the relief of the victims of war, 
of which many were called into existence later, 
in the stormy days which were yet in store for 
Prussia. After the conclusion of Peace the 
Crown Prince was entrusted with the command 
of the Second Army Corps, which he retained 
until the war of 1870. On the 1 1th of Septem- 
ber of the same year Prince Sigismund was 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 77 

born, " a great source of rejoicing to his 
parents." The history of the family of Hohen- 
zollern is full of strange coincidences, but 
perhaps there are few stranger than that con- 
nected with the brief life of this little Prince, 
ushered into the world after the declaration 
of peace, with the Emperor of Austria for his 
godfather, to be taken away once more, almost 
on the very day his native land had drawn the 
sword against Austria. 

The interval of peace was short. Since the 
Italian war of 1859 the relations between 
Austria and Prussia had continued strained, 
and the Danish campaign had only served to 
widen the breach. The struggle for the 
hegemony of the German Confederation was 
at hand. Austria realized at length that 
Prussia was in deadly earnest, and meant not 
only to oust her from the headship she still 
claimed, but from the confederation altogether ; 
and long before appeal was made to the decision 
of the sword, rumours of war were rife, and 
hostile preparations continued. In May, 18CG, 
the Prussian army was mobilized. The fighting 
strength of the kingdom was divided into three 
armies, of which the second was placed under 



78 FREDERICK : 

the command of the Crown Prince, with orders 
to protect the province of Silesia, of which he 
was appointed Military Governor during the 
mobilization. 

So long as war still hung in the balance, the 
Crown Prince used his influence on the side of 
conciliation, and did all that was in his power 
to avert a conflict. Now that it appeared 
inevitable, he was as ever ready to do his duty. 
A few days after the christening of his second 
daughter, who, having been baptized on the 
24th of May, received the name of Victoria, he 
rejoined his Staff at Breslau; and, as the veteran 
generals gathered round him, he said, with his 
genial smile : "It really is too bad that so 
young a man as I am should command you, 
with all your experience, and I with none 
myself." On the 14th of June the Prussian 
proposals were rejected in the Diefc at Frank- 
fort ; Hanover and Hesse fell almost without a 
struggle, before the iron will of the great 
minister, and the dogs of war were loosed. 
The day after the issue of the Royal pro- 
clamation to the Army, the Crown Prince 
addressed his troops from his headquarters at 
Naisse : — 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 79 

" Soldiers of the Second Army, 

" You have heard the words of our King 
and Commander-in-Chief. The efforts of His Majesty 
to preserve peace for our country have been vain. With 
a heavy heart, but relying on the devotion and bravery 
of his army, the King has resolved to fight for the 
honour and independence of Prussia, and for the effec- 
tual reorganization of Grermany. 

"Placed at your head by the grace of my royal 
father, and thanks to the confidence he reposes in me, I 
am proud, as our King's first subject, to stake my life 
with you for all that our fatherland holds most sacred. 

" Soldiers ! For the first time in the last fifty years 
our army has to face a foe that is its equal match. 
Have confidence in your strength, in the efficiency of 
your arms, and remember we have now got to beat the 
same enemy whom our greatest King once vanquished 
with a little army. 

" And now forward, under the old Prussian device, 
' With Cod for king and country ! ' " 

The Crown Prince had left for the campaign 
under very painful circumstances, for a few 
days before his departure, Prince Sigismund, 
' a beautiful boy, the joy and pride of his 
parents,' was taken very ill. Even the doctor 
who had attended him was summoned to the 
front by the fate of war, and the Crown 



80 FREDERICK : 

Princess was left alone with her sick child. 
The illness, which was at first difficult to 
recognize, assumed a fatal form,* and on the 
18th of June the little Prince succumbed, 
leaving his mother well-nigh distracted and 
alone, without anyone to share her sorrow. 
The news reached the Crown Prince just as the 
army was on the point of advancing. He had 
with him one tried and trusted friend, Captain 
Mischke, a companion of his early days, and it 
was his warm sympathy on which the Crown 
Princess relied to help her husband at this 
critical moment to bear so hard and crushing a 
blow. 

There were perhaps many others in the 
camp who had their silent troubles ; such things 
must always be. It is not the least of the 
terrors of war, that, when the summons comes, 
the claims of home and the affections of the 
individual must yield to the general welfare ; 
but it may have encouraged some of those who 
stood in like case to see how bravely and 
unswervingly their leader went about his 
duty, never allowing his private griefs for a 
moment to divert his energies from the grave 
* Meningitis cerebralis. 



CROWN PE1NCE AND EMPEROR. 81 

task he had in hand. Those who knew him 
well were aware how acutely he suffered, but it 
was only after the war was over, in a speech 
made to the Municipality of Berlin, when ten- 
dering their congratulations on his safe return, 
that he spoke of his personal loss : " It was a 
heavy trial," he said, " to be separated from my 
wife and my dying boy ; that I could not be 
there to close his eyes. Hard as it was at the 
time to have to be far from my home and family, 
I can now look back upon it with satisfaction, 
for it was a sacrifice which I offered to my 
country." 

The force commanded by the Crown Prince 
consisted of four army corps ; the first under 
General von Bonin, the fifth under General 
von Steinmetz, who was commander of the First 
Army in the war of 1870, the sixth under 
General von Mutius, and the Corps of the 
Guards, under Prince August of Wlirtemberg. 
He was supported by an able adviser in the 
person of General von BlumenthaL who acted 
as Chief of the Staff. General von Blumenthal 
accompanied the Prince in the same capacity 
durinof the Franco-German war, and one of the 
few public acts of his brief reign was to bestow 

F 



82 FREDERICK : 

a field-marshal's baton on this old friend and 
faithful servant, for whose military capacity and 
private character he had unbounded esteem, 
which it was his especial pleasure to express 
whenever he had an opportunity. 

The instructions issued by General von 
Moltke, who as chief of the head-quarter Staff 
directed the operations of the three armies, 
were : to enter Bohemia through the passes of 
the Giant Mountains, and effect a junction with 
the armies of Prince Frederick Charles and 
General Herwarth. A wide latitude was how- 
ever left to the judgment and initiative of the 
commander, and it was pointed out that, if 
their concentration was not yet effected, cir- 
cumstances might admit of a series of attacks 
in overwhelming force on isolated bodies of the 
enemy, which might modify the scheme of 
campaign. The junction of the armies in the 
direction of Gitschin was however still to be 
the ultimate object, and the relative positions 
of the three armies was ever to be kept in 
sight, with a view to mutual support. This 
forecast was carried out in its double event. 
Four Austrian corps operating independently 
opposed the invading Prussians ; with the 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 8 b 

exception of a slight check experienced by 
General von Bonin on the 27th, a series of 
rapid successes between the 26th and 28th 
cleared the way into Bohemia, and on the 30th 
the three advancing - Prussian corps re-united 
with the sixth, which had formed the rear- 
guard. On the 1st of July the Crown Prince 
issued the following proclamation : — 



" Only a few days have elapsed since we crossed the 
Bohemian frontier, and a series of brilliant victories lias 
marked our advance, and ensured the attainment of 
our first object, to hold the passages of the Elbe, and 
unite with the First Army. 

" The gallant Fifth Army Corps, under its heroic 
leader (General v. Steinmetz), has gloriously repulsed 
on three successive days as many fresh bodies of the 
enemy advancing against them. The Gruarcls have 
been twice engaged, and have brilliantly succeeded in 
beating the enemy back. The First Army Corps has 
displayed the greatest bravery under the most trying 
circumstances. 

" Five flags, two standards, 8,000 prisoners have 
fallen into our hands, and many thousands of killed and 
wounded, are evidence of how severe the losses of the 
enemy have been. 

" We have to mourn the loss of many gallant com- 
rades, killed or wounded, who have made a gap in our 

F 2 



84 FREDERICK : 

ranks. But the thought of having fallen for their 
King and their country, together with the conscious- 
ness of victory, will have afforded consolation to the 
dying and comfort to the suffering. 

" God grant that we may continue in our career of 
victory ! 

" I thank the generals, officers, and men of the 
Second Army for their gallantry in battle, and for 
their patience in surmounting the great difficulties we 
have had to encounter, and I feel proud to command 
such troops." 

But the hardest struggle was yet to come. 
The First Army and the Army of the Elbe had 
also in the meantime entered Bohemia, and 
after a series of successes had converged upon 
Gitschin, the point at which the three armies 
were to effect their union. The Kino- arrived 
at Gitschin on the 2nd of July to take over the 
supreme command. It was decided that the 
troops should enjoy a short rest before the 
decisive engagement with the forces of General 
Benedek. now concentrated in the neighbour- 
hood of Koniggratz ; but a message from Prince 
Frederick Charles, who was not aware of the 
full strength of General Benedek's army, that 
he should attack the Austrian position on the 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 85 

following morning, relying on the support of 
the Second Army and the Army of the Elbe, 
changed these dispositions, and the general 
attack was ordered for the 3rd. . The Crown 
Prince's army was still some fourteen miles 
from Gitschin, and on the night of the 2nd 
orders were despatched for his immediate 
advance. On the safe delivery of these orders 
hung the issue of the day. An hour after 
midnight, Count Finkenstein started on his 
eventful ride through the enemy's country, 
while a second instruction was forwarded by a 
safe and more circuitous route. At a quarter 
past three on the morning of the third he 
reached the bivouack of the advance-guard of 
the Second Army, and warned General von 
Bonin to be prepared. By four in the morning 
the message was safely delivered at head- 
quarters, and by daybreak the columns were 
advancing without train or baggage, straining 
every nerve to reach the field in time. The 
Crown Prince rode at their head, urging and 
encouraging his men, as they heard in the 
distance the thunder of the cannon of Sadowa 
growing nearer and nearer. The Prussians 
were heavily outnumbered in the morning, and 



86 FREDERICK : 

victory hnngf in the scales. The Austrians 
fought, as ever, with the utmost bravery and 
determination, and had the Crown Prince 
reached the battlefield a little later the whole 
issue of the war might have been changed. 
But it was only one o'clock when the artillery 
of the Second Army opened fire upon the 
Austrian light, by two o'clock the whole army 
was engaged, and General von Moltke, turning 
to the King, said, " Now, no power on earth 
can take the victory from your Majesty." It 
was the forced march of the Second Army that 
won the decisive battle of Sadowa. The 
Austrians lost in killed, wounded, and prisoners, 
upwards of 40,000 men, while the rest of their 
army was in full retreat over the Elbe or into 
the fortress of Koniggratz. 

It was late in the evening before the Crown 
Prince found his father. Their meeting is thus 
recorded in his diary : "At last, after much 
questioning and searching, we met the King ; 
I reported to him the presence of my army on 
the field of battle, and kissed his hand, and he 
embraced me. For a time neither of us could 
find words. At last lie said that he was 
rejoiced at my successes, and that I had shown 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 87 

aptitude for command. He had confered on me, 
as I would know by telegraph, the Order ' le 
Merite.' I had not received this telegram ; and 
so my father and Sovereign bestowed upon 
me, on the field of a battle which I had assisted 
in winning, our highest Order of military dis- 
tinction. I was deeply moved, and those who 
assisted at the interview seemed to share my 
emotion." 

The interview was thus also briefly described 
by the King in a letter written on the following 
morning to the Queen. " At last I met Fritz 
with his Staff, quite late, at eight o'clock. 
What a moment after all we had gone through, 
and on the evening of such a day ! I gave him 
myself the Order ' Pour le Merite.' Tears 
started from his eyes, for he had not received 
my telegram announcing it. It was a complete 
surprise." 

The Order " Pour le Merite " is so highly 
esteemed, because it can only be won for 
personal gallantry upon the field of battle, and 
it had an especial value for the Prince to whom 
so many decorations had fallen ex officio, in 
being 1 the one Order which had to be earned. By 
the express desire of the Emperor William, this 



8 8 FREDERICK : 

Order, which he had won himself in 1815, was 
hiinsr round his neck after death, and buried 
with him. 

The war was not over, but there was little 
more fighting for the Second Army to do. The 
Prussian troops pressed on to within sight of 
Vienna, and on the 26th of July preliminaries 
of peace were signed at Nikolsburg. The 
Treaty of Prague, signed in the following 
month, prepared the way for the unity of 
Germany. The immediate results were that 
the Sovereign of Prussia, whose territories had 
now been extended by the annexation of 
Hanover, Hesse, Schleswig-Holstein, Nassau, 
and Frankfort, became President of a new 
North German Confederation, including all the 
States of Northern and Central Germany, with 
absolute control of their military organization, 
while offensive and defensive alliances with the 
States and Southern Germany placed at his 
disposal the whole available fighting strength 
of the Gsrman nation. 

Such were the momentous changes effected 
by the brief but brilliant campaign of 1866, to 
whose success the Crown Prince had so largely 
contributed. As he drove into Berlin beside 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 89 

the King, on the 4th of August, and the people 
closed in round the carriage with cheer on 
cheer, he may well have felt a thrill of conscious 
pride at having so fully justified the high com- 
mand with which he had been entrusted. The 
glory of the successful soldier is still man's 
fondest ambition ; we had nearly all of us rather 
have been Caesar than Socrates. But the 
scenes of the last weeks had left a dark im- 
pression on the quick sensibilities and the 
gentle nature of the soldier-Prince, which the 
flush of triumph could not altogether efface, 
and he had seen upon what narrow issues the 
fate of battles hung. There was still much 
more of this rough work for him to do, inevit- 
able for the Prince as for the Private. But 
his inmost feelings are revealed in a few words 
which he made use of sometime afterwards in 
the course of conversation, when the Luxem- 
burg question was agitating the public mind, 
and the danger of hostilities was again with- 
in measurable distance. " You have never seen 
war," he said to one who had lightly spoken of 
its probability, " or you would never pronounce 
that word so calmly. I, who have been 
brought face to face with war, must tell you 



90 FREDERICK : 

that it is a paramount duty to avoid it, if it 
be possible. To make war is to incur a terrible 
responsibility. A statesman, even when he 
foresees the necessity of war, ought not to pro- 
voke it by artificial means, unless he be a 
genius and is confident of success. Otherwise 
he is tempting God. On the other hand, to 
await the contingency of war with firmness, 
and not to shrink from it if it is forced upon 
one, is the duty of a man. In acting so, we 
shall have public opinion and Heaven on our 
side." 

After the war of 1866 the Crown Prince 
rejoined the Crown Princess in Haringsdorf, a 
little village on the shores of the Baltic, to 
which the Princess and her children had retired 
on account of the cholera, which was then very 
bad in Potsdam. Thence they proceeded to 
Admannsdorf, in Silesia, not far from the 
Bohemian frontier, where the Princess occupied 
herself in tending the wounded soldiers, both 
Prussian and Austrian. 

And now once more it fell to his lot to under- 
take the task of conciliation, and to gain the 
attachment of the new provinces ; and as he 
travelled from one to the other, inspecting their 



CROWN PRTNCE AND EMPEROR. 91 

troops or visiting their cities, his influence was 
ever at work, to temper the mortifications of 
surrender, by raising' the ideal of an united 
Fatherland, and by his personal charm and 
genial manner to reveal to them in the repre- 
sentative of Prussia a friend, and not a 
conqueror. As his heart naturally went out to 
all men, and as he had a real and strong 
affection for all Germans, to whatever state 
they belonged, the part he had to play was a 
very welcome one. Moreover, as he had 
entered the campaign with a heavy heart, 
though fully convinced of its necessity, he 
never ceased subsequently to do all that was 
in his power to restore the natural bond 
between Austrians and Prussians, and remove 
the traces of their temporary estrangement. 

Notwithstanding the ominous development 
of the Luxemburg question, and the tension 
with France, which never wholly subsided after 
the Treaty of Prague, the next few years were 
spent in peace, and the Crown Prince resumed 
his command of the Second Army Corps. At 
the end of 1866 he was once more in Russia, for 
the marriage of the Cesarevitch, and in the 
following year he visited the Paris Exhibition 



92 FREDERICK : 

with the Crown Princess. While they were 
there King William also arrived, and for a while 
it seemed as if these visits had succeeded in 
dispelling somewhat the feeling of mistrust 
between the neighbour nations. In 1868 the 
Crown Prince went to Turin, to be present at 
the marriage of Prince Humbert. The latter 
had been in Berlin the previous year, and with 
this visit renewed the acquaintance the two 
Princes had formed in Milan some years 
previously, and strengthened that cordial 
friendship between the future rulers of Ger- 
many and Italy which continued unbroken to 
the last. Their positions were not altogether 
dissimilar. The making, of Italy was as yet 
only partially accomplished, but the campaign 
of 1866 had greatly lightened the task of King 
Victor Emmanuel and Cavour. In every Italian 
city which was visited by the Crown Prince 
enthusiastic demonstrations testified how sen- 
sible the populations were to the debt they owed 
to Germany. The martial bearing and the 
winning manner of the hero of Sadowa appealed 
directly to the warm temperament of the Italian 
people, who gave him a Southern welcome, and 
it was a source of unmixed pleasure to the Royal 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 93 

traveller to find that he had won the love of a 
people whose land he loved, so well. Among 
the many personal friends of the Crown Prince 
in Italy may be mentioned the celebrated 
Statesmen, Marco Minghetti, Giovanni Morelli, 
and Count Pobilant. 

In the same year, the Wedding day of Queen 
Victoria and Prince Albert, and the anniversary 
of the Princess Royal's christening, was marked 
by another conspicuous event in the family of 
the Crown Prince. A fourth son was born, 
who seemed sent to fill the sad gap which the 
death of his little brother had made two years 
before. The present Emperor of Pussia was 
sponsor to Prince Waldemar, and the christen- 
ing took place on the Emperor William's 
seventy-first birthday, at Berlin. He was a 
child of unusual promise, who inherited all the 
brightness of his father's nature, with that 
physical beauty which is so often the privilege 
of those whom the gods love. His little life 
was long enough to win the hearts of all who 
were brought near him, and his early death, in 
his eleventh year, left a gap which could never 
be filled. It was by the side of this much-loved 
child that the father chose his last resting-place, 



94 FREDERICK : 

when the great tragedy which the passing year 
has witnessed drew to its close. 

In November, 1869, the Sovereigns of all the 
Maritime Powers were invited to take part in 
the ceremonious opening of the Suez Canal ; 
and this invitation afforded the Crown Prince, 
who was deputed to represent the King, an 
opportunity of realizing the long-cherished 
plan of a journey through the East. Pausing 
on his way to make a pilgrimage to Dante's 
grave at Ravenna, he crossed from Brindisi by 
Corfu to Corinth. From Athens he sailed to 
Constantinople, where the Sultan made over to 
his guest the concession of an ancient monastery 
of the Knights of St. John in Jerusalem, which 
was to furnish the site for a German Protestant 
Church and hospital. Embarking thence, he 
arrived on the 3rd of November at Jaffa, and, 
escorted by a detachment of Marines from the 
Hertha, started at once for the Holy City, 
which was reached on the following day, after 
a night in camp at Bab-el- Wady. Jerusalem is 
now no longer the goal of pilgrims from the 
Catholic countries of Europe ; but Greeks and 
Armenians still make their way in numbers to 
the Holy Sepulchre, and they were a motley 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 95 

throng of all the peoples of the East that lined 
the narrow streets to witness the Prince's entry. 
As ever, full of consideration for all about him, 
he turned to the Marines in his escort, and 
bade them keep close to him, that they might 
not miss any of the sights. The deep impres- 
sion made by the haunting spirit of a spot so 
familiar through long and tender association, 
found record in the following entry in the diary 
in which he never failed to chronicle his obser- 
vations and experiences : — 

" 1 shall never, as long as I live, forget that first 
evening in Jerusalem, when I saw the sunset from the 
Mount of Olives, and that wondrous peace of Nature 
supervened which even in any other place has a solemn 
character of its own. Here the spirit could lift itself 
over earthly things, and dwell uninterruptedly in those 
thoughts which move the heart of every Christian when 
he looks hack on that great work of redemption, which 
found upon this hallowed spot its loftiest expression. 
To read over again one's favourite passages in the 
Gospels at such a place is in itself an act of worship." 

From Jerusalem, Bethlehem and the graves 
of the Patriarchs were visited, and after a brief 
excursion to Lebanon and Damascus the Crown 
Prince re-embarked for Port Said. The 



96 FREDERICK : 

ceremonies connected with the opening of the 
Suez Canal were over in time to enable him to 
reach the first cataract of the Nile, and even to 
penetrate some distance into Nubia, before 
rejoining the Crown Princess and his family for 
the Christmas rejoicing at Cannes, where they 
had been staying with Princess Alice, whose 
husband had accompanied the Crown Prince on 
his travels. The last days of the year were 
spent at Paris, where the Emperor Napoleon 
paid them a visit at their hotel. They were 
"■ struck by finding him changed and ailing and 
much dejected." In the course of conversation 
the Emperor mentioned that he had appointed 
a new Minister, M. Ollivier. Thence, on the 
morning of the New Year, little anticipating 
what eventful days it was to bring him, the 
Crown Prince returned to Berlin. Before that 
year was over he met the Emperor Napoleon 
once again — the morning after the capitulation 
of Sedan. 



y. 

1870 — 1871. 



G 



1870—1871. 

The Spring and early Summer of 1870 had 
passed uneventfully ; the Crown Prince had 
been sent by his doctors for a cure to Carlsbad, 
from which he returned in April ; and the 
only event which had marked the year with 
importance in his family was the birth of a 
daughter, Princess Sophie, on the 14th of June. 
The King had gone to Ems, as was his annual 
habit, when suddenly the crisis came, and the 
war which had so long been anticipated took 
Europe by surprise. This is not a place to 
enter into the causes, immediate or remote, 
which led to the eventful struggle, nor is any 
detailed description contemplated of that 
memorable campaign. So much only will be 
dealt with in the following pages as may 
serve to throw light upon the military genius 

G 2 

LoFC. 



100 FREDERICK: 

and character of the subject of the present 
sketch. 

After his well-known interview with M. 
Benedetti, the King returned immediately to 
Berlin. He was met at Brandenburg by the 
Crown Prince. Both appreciated the full 
gravity of the moment and the issues that were 
at stake ; for now, if ever, the question of an 
united Germany was to be finally decided, and 
Prussia was to triumph or to disappear. All 
along the route two private secretaries had 
been constantly occupied in deciphering the 
telegraphic messages which were handed in at 
every station ; and it was on the King's arrival 
at Berlin that the Crown Prince read to him, 
by the flickering light of a gas-jet in the 
station waiting-room, a despatch from Paris 
announcing the stormy meeting in the French 
chambers, which clearly indicated the condition 
of the public mind in Paris. It was to be war ; 
and the King on learning its contents simply 
said : " I think I can only answer this message 
by ordering the mobilization of the whole 
German army, and in half an hour I shall be 
ready to sign the necessary papers." The gas- 
lamp by which the eventful message was read 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 101 

was afterwards taken from its place and 
retained as a cherished relic. 

The plan of campaign had long been pre- 
pared, and all went forward with order and 
precision. On the 19th of July the French 
Charge d' Affairs at Berlin handed in the declara- 
tion of war, and the whole fighting strength of 
Germany was already mobilizing and streaming 
to the Rhine. The King assumed the supreme 
command of the united German Army, while 
General Moltke, as Chief of the Staff, accom- 
panied his head-quarters, and directed the 
military operations. The available forces were 
divided into three armies. The first, commanded 
by General von Steinmitz, was ordered to con- 
centrate on the Moselle, in the neighbourhood 
of Treves. The second was placed under 
the command of Prince Frederick Charles, 
whose head- quarters were first fixed at 
Mayence, and directed to press forward to 
the frontier. The Third Army, which was to 
concentrate on the Upper Rhine, and to 
form the left, or southern wing, was similarly 
to advance across the frontier, keeping up 
close communication with the centre. It 
was commanded by the Crown Prince. His 



102 FREDERICK: 

Chief of the Staff was General von Blumenthal ; 
the Artillery were under the orders of 
Lieutenant-General Herckt, and the Engineers 
under Major-General Schulz. The Crown 
Prince was well fitted, both by his character 
and his rank, to assume the difficult task of 
leading and conciliating 1 the various elements 
of which the Third Army was composed. 
At least a dozen different dialects of German 
were spoken in its ranks. It consisted of 
the two Bavarian Army Corps, the combined 
Corps of Baden and Wiirtemberg, and the 
Fifth, Sixth, and Eleventh Prussian Army 
Corps, with the Second and Fourth Cavalry 
divisions, amongst which might be found 
Westphalians, Hessians, and Thuringians, 
with the regiments from Waldeck and 
Frankfort. 

On the 25th of July, the christening of 
Princess Sophie took place. It was an 
anxious party that met round the baptismal 
font, for there were few present there who 
were not under orders for the front. The 
gentlemen were already in their high boots 
and campaigning accoutrements. Emotion, 
anxiety, and excitement made the King 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 103 

unable to hold his little grandaughter at the 
baptismal font, according' to wont, and he 
deputed the task to the Queen Augusta. 
On the 25th, the Crown Prince once more 
went to church, and received the Communion 
with the Princess, and early on the morning 
of the 26th he departed without taking 
leave ; he wished to spare his wife the agony 
of parting. He first proceeded to Munich, 
to pay a hasty visit to the King of Bavaria. 
The reception accorded him wherever he 
showed himself, the enthusiasm which greeted 
his appearance by the side of the young 
King in the theatre, augured well for the 
spirit of the Bavarian troops. Proceeding 
from Munich to Stuttgart, he paused on 
his way at Ingoldstadt to introduce himself 
as their commander to the assembled officers 
of the Bavarian Army, and addressed them 
in the following words : " I cannot sufficiently 
express to you the honour which I feel has 
been done me by your King in entrusting 
his army to oy command. Let us not 
conceal from ourselves that we have before 
us a momentous struggle, but the universal 
enthusiasm which we are witnesses of 



104 FREDERICK : 

from every corner of Germany bids me hope 
that, with God's help, it will be a victorious 
struggle, which will lead at last to a peace that 
shall crown our German Fatherland with pros- 
perity. Let us then rely on our good cause, 
upon our good sword ! " By Stuttgardt and 
Carlsruhe he proceeded to Spires, where his 
head-quarters were first established, and at once 
began that difficult task, which it is his special 
merit to have carried through so successfully, 
of consolidating his army, morally as well as 
practically, and welding its many elements into 
one harmonious whole. On the day of his 
arrival, the 30th, he was in the camp of the 
Bavarians, observing, encouraging, asking a 
friendly question of this man and that, and 
spreading by his genial presence, that con- 
tagious enthusiasm which is worth so much on 
the eve of battle. The same day he issued his 
Proclamation to the Army : — 

" Soldiers of the Third Army, 

" Appointed by my royal father Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the Third Army, I greet the troops 
of Prussia, Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, and Baden, who are 
henceforth under my command. It fills me with pride 
and satisfaction to be advancing against the foe at the 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 105 

head of an army composed of men from every part of 
our common Grerman Fatherland, for the national 
cause, for the right, for the honour of Grermany. We 
are marching to a great and grave struggle, hut con- 
vinced of the justice of our cause, and relying on your 
bravery, your endurance, and your manliness, we have 
no misgivings as to its victorious issue. Therefore let 
us hold fast to our true brotherhood in arms, that with 
Grod's help we may unroll our banners to new victories 
for the glory and the peace of our united Father- 
land. 

" Frederick "William, 

" Crown Prince of Prussia." 

On the 3rd of August the Prince pushed on 
his head-quarters to Landau, and issued orders 
that on the following day his troops should 
cross the Lauter, and enter hostile territory. 
Reconnaissances had proved that the French 
showed no disposition to strike the first blow, 
and the fact that the frontier lines were still 
unoccupied, justified the presumption that they 
were not yet fully prepared. The Seventh 
French Corps d'Armee, under General Felix 
Douay, detailed to protect the Southern passes 
of the Vosges, which was the first to come to 
close quarters with the Third Army, had been 
the last to complete its mobilization, and the 



106 FREDERICK : 

General was quite unprepared to carry out an 
instruction despatched on the 27th of July to 
join the division of Marshal MacMahon, whose 
troops were concentrated near Strasburg. The 
stragetic plan of the Emperor Napoleon to 
unite the armies of Metz and Strasburo- to 
cross the Rhine with an overwhelming force 
and occupy Baden and the Palatinate, was 
anticipated by the rapidity of the German 
mobilization and advance. 

As day broke on the morning of the 4th 
the Crown Prince advanced on Weissenburjr. 
The town itself, situated on the river Lauter, 
was fortified with obsolete ramparts dating 
from the last century, but the heights to the 
south-west, known as the Geisburg, afforded a 
very strong position, and were occupied by 
General Douay with eleven battalions of 
infantry and four batteries of artillery. The 
Crown Prince arrived on the field of battle 
at a quarter past nine, and directed operations 
in person. Before midday the town was in 
the hands of the Germans, and what remained 
of the garrison their prisoners. The whole 
attack was then concentrated on the Geisberg. 
Many of the regiments had been as much as 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 107 

eight hours on the march, but their determined 
advance carried all before it, and the French, 
who were heavily outnumbered, abandoned 
their positions one by one. A stubborn resist- 
ance was made in the Schloss, with its out- 
houses, crowning 1 the summit, and a first 
attempt to carry the position by storm was 
repulsed ; but still new troops succeeded. The 
French, with great coolness, reserved their fire 
till the enemy was within certain range, and 
then opened a deadly hail from every point 
of vantage. The colours of the Seventh Royal 
Grenadiers, who led the advancing column, 
were passed from hand to hand, as one by one 
the bearers were shot down. At length a 
battery was brought to bear upon the strong- 
hold, now surrounded on every side by the 
Prussian and Bavarian troops, and towards 
one o'clock the survivors surrendered, and the 
first battle of the war was won. 

The victorious regiments were drawn up on 
the heights as the Crown Prince rode up the 
bloody slopes of the Geisberg, where the dead 
and wounded were lying on every side, in 
evidence of the severity of the struggle. On 
his way he paused here and there to speak 



108 FREDERICK : 

to a wounded soldier, and then standing still 
in the midst of his young troops, still black 
with powder-smoke and soiled with the dust 
of battle, he addressed a few stirring words 
of gratitude to each and all for their steadiness 
and gallantry. The tattered flag of the Royal 
Grenadiers was brought him, and he kissed 
it, and embraced the wounded commander of 
the regiment, Major von Kaisenberg, who had 
fallen at the head of the storming column, 
with the colours in his hand. Then, learning 
that General Douay had fallen in the battle, 
he desired to be shown the body of this 
distinguished officer. The Crown Prince went 
in alone to the peasant's cottage where he 
lay ; it was a moving and suggestive sight ; 
in the morning their chances were equal ; 
in the flush of victory, the pathetic contrast 
of this brave man's fate now touched him 
deeply ; not a soul of all the thousands he 
had commanded was watching at his side, 
only his dog sat whining by the corpse. 

The German troops had undoubtedly out- 
numbered the French considerably. Some 
sixteen battalions had been engaged on their 
side, while the division of General Douay 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR, 109 

numbered less than 9,000 men ; but the 
strength of the French position had more 
than compensated for the inequality of 
numbers, and the steadiness and determina- 
tion shown by the Germans had been exem- 
plary. Besides, the first ordeal had been 
successfully overcome ; Prussians and Bavarians 
had conquered side by side. The importance 
of the victory could scarcely be over-estimated, 
but it was,, dearly bought, for ninety-one officers 
and upwards of 1,400 men were left on the 
battlefield. 

In the afternoon of the 4th head-quarters 
were advanced to Schweighofen, and on the 
following day to Sulz, some seven miles from 
the village of Worth. The news of the 
defeat of his advance -guard reached Marshal 



&■ 



MacMahon the same evening- at Strasburg. 
He at once pushed forward with all the forces 
he could muster, to retrieve, if possible, the 
disaster, by covering the passes of the Vosges, 
and attempting to drive the invading army 
back over the Alsatian frontier. With this 
object he took up a strong position, on the 5th, 
along a line of wooded heights to the west of 
the village of Worth, in communication with 



110 FREDERICK : 

the more distant fortress of Bitsch. In the 
rear of his position lay Beichshofen, connected 
with Worth by a high road ; to the north-east 
was the village of Froschweiler, to the south 
Elsasshausen, the left and right centres of the 
French lines, the extreme right extending as 
far as Morsbrunn, and the extreme left to 
Neuweiler, in the direction of Bitsch. The 
attack was expected on the 7th, and it had 
been the intention of the Commander of the 
Third Army to postpone the decisive encounter 
till that day, when he would have been able to 
bring all his five army corps into action simul- 
taneously ; but during the night of the 5th, 
and in the early morning of the 6th, a lively 
interchange of shots took place between the 
French outposts and the advance guard of the 
Fifth Prussian Corps in the centre, and the 
Second Bavarian Corps on the right. The 
General in command of the Fifth Corps, 
noticing considerable movement in the French 
lines about 4 a.m., was under the impression 
that they were about to retreat from their 
positions, and ordered a reconnaissance in force. 
From this reconnaissance the decisive battle 
developed itself; for though orders were 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. Ill 

despatched to the various commanders to 
avoid bringing on a general action at present, 
matters had already gone too far to make this 
course practicable, and the French had assumed 
the offensive. The commander of the Eleventh 
Corps, which formed the left of the first line, 
seeing the Fifth Corps and the Bavarians 
engaged, prepared to render assistance, and by 
midday all three corps were fully employed. At 
half-past twelve, the Crown Prince and his Staff 
arrived on the field of battle, and about the 
same time the First Bavarian Corps and the 
Wtirtemburg division, which had had upwards 
of ten miles to march that morning, were draw- 
ing into line, while the Baden regiments were 
following hard behind. 

The first object of the Crown Prince was to 
drive the French out of Worth, and having 
done this, to move forward and contest the 
positions held by the left wing of Marshal 
MacMahon's army, extending in a north- 
easterly direction to Froschweiler, while a sim- 
ultaneous movement was to be directed against 
the French right at Elsasshausen, to prevent 
the possibility of their attacking 1 the Fifth 
Prussian Corps in flank. 



112 FREDERICK : 

Immediately after the arrival of the Com- 
mander-in-Chief, an advance was ordered along 
the whole line. After a brief but severe 
struggle, Worth was carried by General von 
Kirchback, and two attempts to retake it were 
repulsed. Meanwhile the Eleventh Corps, 
advancing against the French right, drove 
them back from Morsbrunn to Elsasshausen, 
and joined hands with the centre, now moving 
upon Froschweiler. All along the road from 
Morsbrunn they had fought a desperate hand 
to hand struggle, through woods and vineyards ; 
the ground did not permit of re-forming, and 
the fight was man for man. The dead and 
wounded lay clubbed or bayonetted, French 
and German, side by side or locked together in 
the death grapple where they fell. Just outside 
Elsasshausen General von Bose, who commanded 
the corps, was severely wounded, but still man- 
aged to keep his seat in the saddle; an hour 
later he received a second wound at Frosch- 
weiler. Thus the French right, still fighting 
with unremitted courage, was forced to yield 
step by step along the whole position, and the 
progress of the German left was the signal for 
a concentrated attack on Froschweiler. About 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR, 113 

three o'clock in the afternoon the batteries 
opened fire upon it from three sides, and 
as- the flames of the burning houses marked 
the havoc which the shells had made, the 
combined right and centre advanced to storm 
the heights. The Crown Prince, when he 
had issued his final orders, leapt upon his 
horse and rode after the storming columns, 
through Worth and across the field of 
battle. At four o'clock Marshal MacMahon 
recognized that his position was no longer 
tenable, and gave orders to retire. It was 
at this point, in order to cover his retreat 
on Reichshofen, and stay the pursuit of the 
victorious Germans left from Elsasshausen, 
that he ordered that desperate charge of 
the brigade of Cuirassiers, which, executed 
with the unfaltering devotion of a forlorn hope, 
became one of the most trao-ic and heroic 
episodes in a story abounding in tragedy and 
heroism. If the roads beyond Reichshofen to 
Bitsch, Zabern, and Strasburg were secured, it 
was at a frightful cost. The French cavalry 
charged into a valley of death ; mown down 
by the simultaneous fire of artillery and infantry, ' 
they lay in ordered ranks, with their faces to 

H 



114 FREDERICK : 

the foe that few of them ever reached, a grisly 
army of the dead. 

The French had fought with the utmost 
gallantry, and all that mortal men could do to 
avert disaster had heen done ; hut attacked 
simultaneously on the North, East, and South, 
with his retreat threatened, the Marshal had 
no choice but to retire. He reached Zabern on 
the following day, and withdrew thence to 
Chalons, while other portions of the army fell 
back on Bitsch and Strasburg. In the evening 
the Crown Prince rode over the battlefield and 
congratulated his troops on this decisive 
victory ; the massed bands were playing the 
national hymn as he rode up the heights of 
Froschweiler, greeted by the joyful cheers of 
officers and men. But it was a scene of deso- 
lation that met his eyes, the dead of Reich- 
shofen lay in grim and ghastly heaps, and there 
were terrible gaps in his own regiments. On 
the French side some 200 officers and 9,000 
men were prisoners, while the losses in killed 
and wounded amounted to upwards of 6,000, 
but the victory was obtained at the cost of 500 
officers and more than 10,000 men liors dc 
combat. Amongst the distinguished French 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 115 

officers who had been wounded, the Crown 
Prince found General Baoult, who succumbed 
to his injuries a few weeks later, tying on his 
camp-bed, and, grasping his hand, spoke a few 
words of kindly solicitude, and while offering 
to convey any communication he might wish to 
his family, desired him to command his services. 
The following day, the 7th, was devoted to 
rest. In the morning the Crown Prince again 
rode over the field of battle, and was then for 
the first time able to appreciate the full 
measure of the carnage and desolation that the 
clays work had made. In the garden of a 
farm-house which had not suffered from the 
passing storm, he found a Bavarian trooper, 
who had made himself very much at home, 
enjoying a quiet breakfast, and as was his wont 
addressed a few friendly words to him. Stand- 
ing at attention with his hand at the salute, 
the honest Bavarian allowed his enthusiasm to 
carry him away, and exclaimed : "If only we 
had had vour Roval Highness to lead us in 
1866, you would have seen how we would have 
thrashed those cursed Prussians ! " — " I never," 
said the Crown Prince, " received a compliment 
that pleased me better." 

H 2 



116 FREDERICK: 

The road now lay open into the heart 
of France, and the advance was continued 
through the passes of the Vosges. The 
Baden contingent was told off to invest the 
fortress of Strasburg, and on the 11th, from 
head-quarters at Petersbach, the following 
proclamation was issued to the victorious 
troops : — 

" Soldiers of the Third Army, 

" Having with the victorious battle of Weissen- 
burg crossed the frontier into French territory, and. 
then by the brilliant victory of Worth driven the 
French out of Alsace, we have by now advanced across 
the Yosges far into France, and have established com- 
munications with the First and Second Armies, before 
whose successful arms the foe has equally been com- 
pelled to retire.* It is jour great gallantry, your high 
spirit, your endurance under every difficulty and exer- 
tion, that we have to thank for these important achieve- 
ments. In the name of the King of Prussia, our 
Commander-in-Chief, and in the name of the Allied 
Princes, I thank you, and I am proud to find myself at 
the head of an army against which the enemy has 
hitherto been unable to hold his ground, whose deeds 
our common German Fatherland is watching with 
enthusiasm — Frederick William." 

* Spicheren and Saarbiikk- 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 117 

Simple words and unadorned, but words 
which went home to every man among them, 
who knew that appeal to their common nation- 
ality was no empty phrase with their leader, 
whom they would have followed, Bavarians, 
Wiirtembergers, and all of them, to the end of 
the world. For by now their confidence in him 
was equal to their regard, and each individual 
felt himself to be the object of his leader's fore- 
thought and solicitude. " In the hospitals," 
says, one of his biographers, " the wounded 
seem to forget their pain when he drew near, 
and many in their delirium could speak of 
nothing- but their leader." And how he had 
won the hearts of his army the following ex- 
tract from the letter of a Bavarian officer will 
serve to illustrate : — 

" It is the Crown Prince, in the first place, that we 
have to thank for the brotherly relations which subsist 
between the troops, for Prussians and Bavarians going 
arrn-in-arm. Even the private soldiers are made his 
comrades for life and death : he speaks to them, not 
condescendingly, but with such an unmistakable ring 
of personal interest, and with such a genial maimer, 
that the fellows' hearts go out to him every time. And 
so does his to them. So overcome was he the other day 



118 FREDERICK : 

ill conferring an exceptional military distinction on a 
private soldier, that in his enthusiasm he placed his 
hands upon the hero's shoulders and kissed him. There 
was a moment's breathless silence, and the muskets 
trembled in the soldiers' hands." 

On the 16th of August the Crown Prince 
arrived with his Staff at Nancy, and awaited 
news of the movements of the First and Second 
Armies. On the 19th two officers who had 
been despatched to the King's head-quarters at 
Pont-a-Mousson returned with news of the three 
battles that had been fought round Metz, of 
the last of which, Gravelotte, they had them- 
selves been eye-witnesses. The army of Marshal 
Bazaine was now shut up in Metz, and sur- 
rounded by seven army corps under the 
command of Prince Frederick Charles, it was 
precluded from taking any further active part 
in the campaign. On the 20th the Crown 
Prince went to Pont-a-Mousson, and saw the 
Kino; for the first time after an eventful month. 
The coveted distinction of the Iron Cross of 
the first class was here bestowed upon him, but 
with his instinctive chivalry, he declared he 
could not wear it unless a similar decoration 
were bestowed on General von Blumenthal. 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 119 

Meanwhile the enemy was straining every 
nerve to form a new army at Chalons, where 
the broken columns of MacMahon's force had 
halted in their retreat. These were reinforced 
by the corps of General Failly and two divisions 
from Belfort, while large numbers of the Garde 
Mobile were despatched in haste from Paris. 
The position was well selected, but no prepara- 
tions had been made for the reception of such 
a number of troops, and it became untenable 
before the rapid advance of the Germans, The 
day after the battle of Gravelotte a council of 
war had been held at the German head-quarters, 
at which it had been decided to form a Fourth 
Army (the Army of the Meuse) composed of 
three corps drawn off from the Second Army, 
to be placed under the command of the Crown 
Prince of Saxony. This army was to co-operate 
with the Third Army, and their first object was 
to be the destruction of the force now muster- 
ing at Chalons. On the night of the 20th, 
the Crown Prince rejoined his Staff at 
Vaucouleurs, to which the head -quarters had 
been moved from Nancy. In illustration of 
the spirit in which he carried out the instruc- 
tions of his Kinof and Father to wage no war or< 



120 FREDERICK : 

the peaceful inhabitants of France, the follow- 
ing proclamation, issued to the inhabitants of 
Nancy, will be read with interest :— 

" Germany is at war with the Emperor of the 
French, not with the French people. The population 
need fear no hostile measures. I am occupied in 
restoring the people, and especially for the town of 
Nancy, the means of communication which were broken 
by the French Army. I* trust that business and trade 
will revive, and that the authorities will remain at 
their posts. I claim for the maintenance of my army 
only the excess of provision which is not required for 
the support of the native population. All that are 
peacefully inclined, and particularly the population of 
the town of Nancy, may count upon the most indulgent 
treatment," 

And this was literally carried out. The 
military field-post was made available for the 
inhabitants of Nancy, and with extraordinary 
rapidity the telegraph wires and railway lines 
which the French troops had destroyed were 
set in workino- order again. 

The fortress of Toul, which lay on the line of 
march, offered a determined resistance. The 
Crown Prince had ordered that the town was 
to be spared as much as the exigencies of war 



GROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 121 

would permit, and especially that the Cathedral, 
a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, was to be 
kept well out of the line of fire. Bombarded 
for a whole day, Toul still held out, and the 
troops investing the fortress were ordered to 
rejoin the main body marching on Chalons, a 
detachment being left behind to mask it until 
the reserves came up, when the surrender was to 
be enforced. On the 23rd head- quarters were 
at Ligny. The King had left Pont-a-Mousson 
that morning, and after passing the night at 
Commercy, was timed to arrive at Ligny 
towards noon on the 24th. The streets of the 
little toAvn were bright with uniforms, and all 
its inhabitants had crowded out to see the 
young commander of the Third Army, who, sur- 
rounded by his Staff, was awaiting the King's 
arrival. As the clock struck twelve a Hussar 
came galloping across the market-place and 
delivered a sealed order to the Prince, who 
hastily read its contents, and passed it on to 
General Blumenthal. There was great news. 
The French had evacuated Chalons on the 21st, 
and the town was already occupied by the 
German cavalry. The King arrived soon after 
one o'clock at Ligny, and the changed aspect of 



122 FREDERICK : 

affairs was considered. The direction north- 
wards taken by Marshal MacMahon's Army 
afforded strong grounds for the presumption 
that it was the Emperor's intention, if possible, 
to relieve Bazaine, and intercepted despatches 
subsequently confirmed the accuracy of this 
surmise. His first plan, to retire on Paris with 
the army of Chalons, was abandoned in defer- 
ence to reports from the capital, where the 
Empress Eugenie warned him that to abandon 
Bazaine and to return himself to Paris would 
be the signal for revolution. 
K In the King's head-quarters at Bar-le-Duc a 
council of war was held. The determination to 
despatch the Fourth Army and the two Bava- 
rian corps only of the Third Army, to intercept 
Marshal MacMahon's progress, was combated 
by the Crown Prince, who maintained that it 
was of paramount importance that all available 
forces should combine to strike a decisive blow 
in the North, even if the advance on Paris were 
delayed. His advice, supported by the weight 
of General Blumenthal's opinion, prevailed, and 
consequently the whole of the Third Army, in 
conjunction with the Fourth, faced round to 
the right and hurried by forced marches to the 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 123 

North. On the 28th reconnaissances took place 
which left no further doubt as to the where- 
abouts of Marshal MacMahon's Army. After 
a series of engagements in which the Crown 
Prince of Saxony carried off the palm at Beau- 
mont, the French drew back on the fortress of 
Sedan, which, on the evening of the 31st August, 
was surrounded on three sides by the German 
troops. 

It would be out of the question here, in the 
short space which can be accorded to it, to give 
any account of the memorable battle which 
dealt the French Empire its death-blow. 
Fighting began at daybreak ; Marshal Mac- 
Mahon had drawn up his army in a semi-circle 
round Sedan, extending from the north by 
east to south ; the Avest was undefended, and 
passage over the Meuse at Donchery was thus 
open to the German advance. The task before 
the Third and Fourth Armies, which the two 
Crown Princes led, under the supreme com- 
mand of the King himself, was to surround the 
French position, preventing the possibility of 
an eastward move, and at the same time 
cutting off their retreat across the Belgian 
frontier to the north, while, to meet the 



124 FREDERICK : 

eventuality of a westward movement, should the 
three sides of their front be driven back, the 
Sixth Army Corps had been detached to take up 
a strong position some twenty miles to the west 
of Sedan, with instructions to hold the roads 
and passes till the main body had time to come 
up. By four o'clock in the afternoon the 
French positions were all in the hands of the 
Germans, and a living wall, consisting of eight 
Army Corps, surrounded the whole French 
army in the fortress of Sedan. A brief pause 
ensued ; only to the north the cannon 
thundered, and in the village of Bazeilles a 
desperate fight still raged in the ruined streets. 
Then, as no message of surrender came, the 
guns began to play on the devoted fortress, 
great clouds of smoke rolled up, and forked 
flames began to issue from the burning 
houses. 

Colonel von Bronsart, who was despatched 
by the King to demand the surrender, found a 
white flag raised upon the walls, and was 
admitted within the gates. He had asked to 
be led to the General in command, and was 
conducted to a room in the Prefecture, where he 
found himself face to face with the Emperor 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 125 

Napoleon. From him the Emperor learned 
that the King of Prussia was present with the 
besieging army, and despatched General Beille 
in company with Colonel von Bronsart to 
deliver to his Majesty the celebrated letter, in 
which he wrote that, having failed to find 
death in the midst of his troops, there was 
nothing left him but to surrender his 
sword. Shortly before their arrival the King 
and the Crown Prince had met. It was now 
seven o'clock. We are all familiar with that 
twilight picture ; the veteran King standing on 
a slight eminence, close behind him the Crown 
Prince, Bismarck. Moltke, Blumenthal ; General 
Beille advancing towards them with bare head, 
and the fateful letter in his hand. Three years 
before General Beille had been in attendance 
on the Crown Prince during his visit to the 
French Exhibition. The latter recognizes him, 
and immediately steps forward to greet him. 
The King reads the letter, and passes it to 
the Princes who are with him, and to his Staff, 
then he turns to the Crown Prince and clasps 
him to his heart. It had not been known from 
the first that the Emperor was himself in 
Sedan ; with his surrender there was at least 



126 FREDERICK : 

a hope that the war which had already entailed 
such heavy sacrifices was at an end. 

But the end was not yet to be. MacMahon's 
army were all prisoners of war, the army of 
Bazaine was interned at Metz ; but the events 
of the 4th of September in Paris decided an 
advance on the capital. On the 6th, the King 
and Crown Prince arrived in Rheims, and a 
few days were devoted to rest. The people of 
Kheims were astonished to see the Commander 
of the Third Army, accompanied only hy one 
or two of his Staff, quietly walking through the 
streets of their city, and studying the marvels 
of their famous Cathedral. Every measure of 
indulgence was accorded to the population 
during the German occupation ; an order from 
head-quarters gave instructions that no troops 
were to be quartered on the poorer inhabitants, 
and the local newspapers bore witness to the 
courtesy and moderation of their invaders. 
During his stay at Rheims, the Crown Prince 
addressed an appeal to all the States of 
Germany, to join in founding an institution 
similar to that which he had inaugurated in 
1864 for the relief of the victims of war. ' ( As 
this war," he wrote, " has called out an united 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 127 

German Army, in which the sons of every race 
are contending in brotherly rivalry for the palm 
of valour, so let the provision for the invalided 
and the destitute whom war will leave on our 
hands be an undertaking which the whole 
German race shall co-operate in." 

Meanwhile, at home in Germany, the women's 
work was no less zealous than that of their sons 
and husbands at the front. The Queen and 
the Crown Princess were incessantly at work, 
organizing help for the destitute at home, and 
relief for the wounded and the prisoners. 
Near the French frontier almost every house 
had been turned into a hospital. The 
Crown Princess herself was established at 
Hamburg, in order to be nearer to the seat 
of war, and in the great " Lazareth "* here, 
under her direct superintendance, as many 
as a thousand beds were at one time made 
up. The Crown Princess's work was addition- 
ally arduous, as she had to pay frequent visits 
to her sister, Princess Alice, at Darmstadt, 
whose baby was born in October while her 
husband was away at the war. Yet hardly 

* A fall account of this institution has been published by 
Miss Florence Lees (Mrs. Craven). 



128 FREDERICK: 

a clay passed without her attendance, not 
a patient lay there who did not receive 
some kindly word of sympathy, a sympathy 
that went directly home to each of those 
who knew that their royal leader had never 
spared himself in battle, and that there were 
no less anxious hearts in the old Hamburg- 

o 

Palace than in the humblest cottage that 
had sent a father or a son to fight. 

At his head-quarters of Coulommiers, on 
the 15th September, the Crown Prince 
occupied the house in which King Frederick 
William III., with his three eldest sons, had 
rested, during the advance of the Allies to 
Paris in 1814. On the 19th the soldiers of 
the Third Army looked down upon the 
distant spires and domes of Paris, and on the 
following day the Crown Prince established 
himself in the Prefecture at Versailles. On 
the arrival of the King he gave up this 
residence to his father, and transferred his 
own head-quarters to the villa " Les Ombrages," 
the property of Madame Andree Walther. 
And so the long siege began with its repeated 
sorties and all its well-known incidents. 
The news of the fall of Metz was received 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 129 

at Versailles on the 28th October, and the 
King commemorated this event by creating 
a new precedent in the family of Hohenzollern, 
in bestowing the baton of Field- Marshal on 
his Son and his nephew, Prince Frederick. 
Charles. . - At the close of the rescript in 
which he announced this determination . to 
his son, after commenting on the brilliant 
achievements of the Third Army, he said : 
" You are, therefore, entitled to the highest 
grade of military rank, and I hereby appoint 
you Field-Marshal. It is the first time that 
this distinction, which I also confer upon 
Frederick Charles, has been granted to* 
Princes of our house. But the successes. 
gained in this campaign have been of: a" 
character, and have led to issues of .ah 
importance, entirely without a precedent 
hitherto, and, therefore, I feel justified in- 
departing from the tradition of our family. 
What I as a father feel, in being able to 
express to you my own thanks, and the 
country's, in such a form as this, it needs 
no words to describe. Your loving and 
grateful father, William." ';."."." 

And so Christmas came, the first Christmas. 

i 



130 FREDERICK : 

from home. The bitter Winter weather had 
set in with terrible severity ; but there was 
not wanting the brighter side. The French 
population of Versailles had found a friend 
in their enemy, a friend whose ears were 
always open to listen to an honest grief, 
who had guaranteed their town and its 
treasures his royal protection, and who did 
all that lay in his power to alleviate the 
horrors of war, so that even here the " Notre 
Fritz " was fast becoming- a household word. 
When the guns of Mont Valerien opened fire 
on St. Cloud, it was the German troops under 
his command who saved all that was saved 
from the treasures of the Palace, the removable 
works of art and the library ; and, on the appeal 
of M. Regnault, the distinguished scientist, he 
organized a little expedition to save all that 
was irreplaceable, the models, the drawings, 
and the moulds, from the China factory of 
Sevres, which was also in danger of destruc- 
tion from the French fires. "Fas est et ab 
hoste doceri." The subjoined letter, from his 
hostess in Versailles to a friend, which has 
recently been published in Germany, speaks for 
itself : — 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 131 

'' Those were indeed bad times, but we thought our- 
selves happy to be under the protection of that stately 
and friendly gentleman, who appears to us, as we now 
think of him, to have been a good genius who warded 
off mischief from our household. Although, according 
to the laws of war, he was our master, and the owner 
for the time of all that we had, he behaved himself 
always as if he were our guest. I can never forget the 
gentleness with which he used to ask for anything, 
whether for himself or his Adjutant, apologizing for 
giving us trouble, fearful of causing any inconvenience, 
and enquiring whether this or that would interfere with 
our own arrangements. On Christmas Eve, when a huge 
chest arrived from Berlin for the Crown Prince, he 
invited his hostess and her family to partake of his 
Christmas cake. ' This cake,' said he, as he cut off 
slices for the French ladies, ' was baked by my wife, 
and you must oblige me to taste it.' He then chatted to 
them about the Christmas festival in his own happy 
household, and translated passages from the letter of the 
Crown Princess and the letters of his two eldest 
children." " In those fateful days," she continues, 
" we learned to know the whole good and open heart of 
your late Emperor. On the terrible 19th of January, 
1871, when there was fighting at Mount Valerien, 
Bougival, and St. Cloud, and our troops were driven 
back upon Paris, many thousands of m} T fellow-country- 
men were taken prisoners. At six o'clock in the 
evening the Crown Prince had learned that among 

I 2 



132 FREDERICK:" 

tliem there were several men who were not professional 
soldiers — lawyers, artists, teachers, merchants, and 
others. He asked the French officers who were taken 
prisoners to notify to these civilians that if they gave 
their names to him he would place escorts at their 
service, so that they might return to their homes and 
work. This generous noblesse in your Prince made a 
deep impression upon the French mind. It has never 
been forgotten, and I know with what profound respect 
the knightly conqueror was spoken of at the time. The 
older folk in France, in whom the recollection of those 
days must always ahide, hold the memory of the noble 
Emperor Friedrich in the greatest esteem." 

Just after Christmas the heavy siege guns, 
which had at length arrived, opened fire on 
the city and its surrounding forts. 1 he Crown 
Prince himself was at first against the bom- 
bardment, but the terrible losses of the 
German troops in the bloody battle before ' 
Paris, and the unprecedented severity of 
the Winter, made it imperative that the pro- 
tracted seige should be terminated as soon as 
possible. 

Meanwhile the long-desired consummation of 
the German ideal was drawing near. After the 
battle of Sedan, the South German States had 
signified their readiness to adhere to the 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 133 

Northern Confederation ; before Christmas 
all preliminaries were complete, and the 
Princes, on the proposition of the King of 
Bavaria, joined with the Northern Diet in 
inviting King William to assume the Imperial 
Dignity over an united Germany. The 18th of 
January, 1871, was fixed for the solemnization 
of this great event, and the Crown Prince was 
entrusted with all the preparations for the 
ceremony. Every regiment in the army of 
investment was instructed to send its colours 
in charge of an officer and two non-commis- 
sioned officers to Versailles, and all the higher 
officers who could be spared from duty were 
ordered to attend, for the army was to represent 
the German nation at this memorable scene. 
The Crown Prince escorted his father from the 
Prefecture to the palace of Versailles, where all 
the German Princes or their representatives 
were assembled in the Galerie des Glaces. A 
special service. was read by the military chap- 
lains, and then the Emperor, mounting on the 
dais, announced his assumption of Imperial 
authority, and instructed his Chancellor to 
read the Proclamation issued to the whole 
German nation. Then the Crown Prince, as 



134 FREDERICK : 

the first subject of the Empire, came forward, 
and performed the solemn act of homage, 
kneeling down before his Imperial Father. 
The Emperor raised him and clasped to his 
arms the son who had toiled and fought and 
borne so great a share in achieving what many 
generations had desired in vain, and fulfilling 
the prophetic words of King Frederick William 
IV. : " An imperial crown must be won upon 
the field of battle." 

The following day the last desperate sortie 
from the beleagured city took place. The 
battle was in the immediate vicinity of 
Versailles, and the Crown Prince was on the 
field throughout the day. The French fought 
with the courage of despair, for the city was 
exhausted, and unless they could dislodge the 
Germans from their positions and break 
through, surrender was inevitable. But when 
the early darkness closed, this final effort had 
not availed, and four days afterwards the 
first overtures were made for a cessation of 
hostilities. 

On the 7th of March the Crown Prince left 
Versailles. The war was over, and on the 
last Sunday, as he sat at service in the little 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 135 

church, which he had never failed to attend 
during his long residence there, the words 
of the text, " How beautiful upon the 
mountains are the feet of him that bringeth 
good tidings, that publisheth peace," must 
have fallen upon his ears witli a peculiar 
sweetness and a deeper meaning than ever 
before. After a brief journey to Rouen and 
Amiens, to inspect the Army of the North, and 
convey the Emperor's thanks to General von 
Goeben for his decisive victory at St. Quentin, 
he rejoined his Imperial Father at Nancy, 
where he issued his last address to his arm}''. 
"I take, my leave of you," it concluded, 
" Prussian and Bavarian corps, soldiers of 
Wurtemberg and Baden, with the hope and in 
full confidence that the brotherhood of arms 
and the spirit of union cemented on the bloody 
field of battle may never disappear, but 
increase in vitality and strength, to the honour, 
the glory 3 and the blessing of our common 
Fatherland." But the parting was not to be a 
final one, for, needless to say, he was at Munich 
in July, when the Bavarian troops returned to 
make their triumphal entry. It was a touch- 
ing meeting, and the words which he spoke at 



136 FREDERICK : 

the ensuing banquet were a message to every 
man who had fought under his command, 
which he might bear back with pride to his 
mountain village, and repeat in time to come 
with all those memories and episodes which 
many: a cottage home throughout the length 
and breadth of Germany still teems with. " In 
this campaign," he said, "I learned what we 
may expect from Bavaria in good and evil days. 
With the help of the Bavarians we have won 
an honourable peace, which we hope will 
endure. And as in war they did their duty, 
<so may they now emulate the rest of the 
German family in furthering the arts of 
peace, and in practising in peace the- virtues 
of a-soldier." - ... - '■••'" _ .•_'-.; •■-.._._.,.._,. 

After the war of 1870, it became the. Crown 
Prince's annual duty to inspect the military 
contingents of the South German States, and 
the associations of the great campaign were 
thus continually refreshed. It was ever his 
aim to bind faster those bonds of union which 
hisrpersonal influence had done so much to pro- 
mote,: '-and, by guaranteeing to the various 
component elements of the- Empire respect for 
their individual character and institutions, to 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 137 

enlist the public sympathy for the changed 
order of thing's. 

From Nancy it was one long triumphal pro- 
gress home. Berlin was reached on the 17th of 
March ; and, though no official reception was 
allowed, the Royal carriage in which the King 
and the Crown Prince were to be seen side by 
side could only proceed at a foot pace through 
the dense masses that crowded the streets, 
cheering them with the cheers of a triumphant 
nation. With one pretty picture the record of 
the great campaign may fitly close, when, a 
little later, in response to the call of the people 
who thronged about his Berlin Palace, a 
window opened, and they saw in the midst of 
his young family, and beside the Crown 
Princess, the hero of so many victories, happy 
in his own home, with his youngest child in his 
arms. 

Men have judged and will judge his military 
genius differently. How thorough was his 
practical knowledge of the soldier's business 
is~ clear from the fact that the new drill 
regulations for the infantry, which by order 
of the reigning Emperor are to supersede the 
old ones, had been long planned by him. It 



138 FREDERICK : 

was his decisive march at Koniggratz which 
decided the fate of the dsij, it was his insistence 
on the necessity of leading the whole of his 
Army to Sedan that ensured the surrender of 
Marshal MacMahon's Army and the person of 
the Emperor Napoleon. Few great leaders 
can show such an unvarying record of successes, 
and none have possessed in a higher degree the 
most indispensable quality of the successful 
soldier, the power of attaching to himself the 
love and confidence of his followers. He showed 
a rare and striking example of simplicity and 
unselfishness to his soldiers, He, never 
admitted luxuries, and would not even accept 
necessaries if he knew that his men were 
without food and drink. His thought was 
always for others, never for himself. The 
verdict of an Englishman' who had the most 
exceptional opportunities of observing the 
events which have just been described, cannot 
fail to be interesting" to. English readers. 
General Sir Beauchamp Walker, who in his 
capacity as British Military Attache, and do 
less as a personal friend, accompanied the 
Crown Prince's Staff through the campaigns 
of 1866 and 1870, writes :— 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 139 

" The great characteristic which distinguished him 
was his coolness in difficulty ; whatever happened, he 
and Blumenthal kept their heads clear. His judgment 
was calm in action, his consideration was humane in 
success. What more can one say of the noblest man I 
have ever known ? " 



VI. 

1871—1887. 



VI. 

1871—1887. 

Hitherto we have followed in the Prince's 
footsteps, along the path of public duty, and 
through scenes of continual activity. Now, 
a long period of peace lies before us, and while 
considering this quieter picture, Ave may also 
glance back again and see how the intervals of 
rest were spent, and what were the interests 
and occupations of one who, though circum- 
stances had made him a soldier, was at heart a 
man of peace. A love of study, an enthusiasm 
for Art, with a full consciousness of its lofty and 
ennobling mission, continued with him through- 
out his life, while he found in the Crown 
Princess one who shared his cultivated tastes, 
and actively co-operated in directing those 
labours of love which it became his especial 
mission to promote. His own words will best 
testify what he held the aim of all true Art to 
be. Speaking at the opening of the Jubilee 



144 FREDERICK : 

Exhibition of the Berlin Academy, in 1886, he 
said : " But look to it, that our Art be never 
untrue to its high calling, to be for man- 
kind, high and low, rich and poor, that 
elevating and spiritualizing influence which 
helps man up to God. - - Then, after that, let it 
fulfil its other calling: — the union of nations 
and individuals, with all their different utter- 
ances, in the common worship of the ideal." 

Needless to say, their Court at Berlin was a 
meeting place for all that was remarkable in 
various fields of culture. In Berlin and Vienna, 
of all the European capitals, the distinctions of 
class are still most rigorously marked, and 
there is accordingly less social intercourse 
between the various grades and faculties. 
Moreover, party spirit still runs very high, 
opinions coincide with social positions, and the 
mutual antipathy of the various political 
denominations is by no means confined to the 
precincts of the Chamber. The parties at the 
Crown Prince's Palace, however, formed a 
bright exception to this somewhat monotonous 
uniformity of clannish ness, and there would be 
gathered together scholars and theologians, 
archaeologists and explorers, artists and men of 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 145 

letters, without distinction of birth or political 
opinion. Many a young and unknown singer, 
and many a struggling musician, have owed 
their first introduction to the public notice to 
the Winter concerts at their palace, and all that 
was new in the field of design, all that was 
original or remarkable in Art, was assured 
beforehand of their interest and support. Our 
own countrymen can bear witness to the fact 
that no English author or painter of eminence 
whom business or pleasure took to Berlin, 
ever failed to find a warm welcome there ; 
and it was always matter for regret if any 
such passed through the capital unnoticed or 
unknown. 

It was therefore a peculiar satisfaction to the 
Crown Prince, debarred as he was by the rule 
he had made himself, from any participation in 
affairs of State, when the office of Protector of 
Public Museums was conferred upon him. 
Those who have seen them before his interest 
and energies were enlisted in their behalf, and 
since, have testified to the extraordinary de- 
velopment and improvement of these collec- 
tions under his sympathetic control. The Old 
Museum, founded but little more than fifty 

K 



146 FREDERICK: 

years ago, has few rivals in Europe in com- 
pleteness, certainly none in arrangement. The 
pictures, judiciously added to by recent pur- 
chases, for the most part from England, 
though still comparatively few in number, are 
thoroughly representative of the various schools 
in their rise and evolution ; — the print room, 
enriched under the Prince's regime by the 
famous acquisitions from the Hamilton Collec- 
tion, is probably the best managed institution 
of its kind that exists ; — the marbles from 
Pergamos, recovered by the indomitable perse- 
verance of Herr Humann, have under his 
auspices been added to reinforce the weaker 
side of the Museum, its classical sculpture ; 
while it can show, what we in England, with 
all our wealth of treasures, have not yet been 
able to afford ourselves, a gallery of casts from 
the great sculptures of the world, which it was 
his aim to render complete. The Museum of 
Industrial Art, corresponding to our own 
Museum at South Kensington, has grown up 
entirely under the supervision of the Crown 
Prince and Princess. A third institution, the 
Ethnological Museum, in which he took the 
keenest interest, is still in process of arrange- 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 147 

merit, and though already open, will not be 
completed for some time to come.* 

But it was not only the moral and intellectual 
progress of the people which the Prince and 
Princess have been ever zealous to promote ; 
the material prosperity was a matter of no 
less concern. And so well was their devotion 
to this work understood in Germany that, on 
the celebration of their silver wedding-, the 
present which the country placed in their hands 

* In an eloquent and touching speech, at a meeting held on 
the 1st of July, Dr. Richard Schone, the Director-General of 
the Royal Berlin Museums, summed up the great services 
rendered to Art by the departed Emperor. He enumerated 
the new Museums that had been inaugurated under his 
fostering hand, and described the efforts made by him to 
place the collections at Berlin on a footing of equality with 
those of other countries. The excavations at Olympia, he 
added, would remain a permanent monument of his zeal for, 
and devotion to, knowledge. " In the midst of a whole 
nation's mourning," he said, " they may scarcely venture to 
raise their voices, whose privilege it was to serve and to 
labour under him, in that more restricted field to which the 
Emperor Frederick, as Crown Prince, on behalf of his Im- 
perial father, bestowed his special protection. But if, as 
long as the light of his eyes was not darkened, our mouths 
were closed in respectful reserve, now, at least, that he has 
gone from us, we may be permitted, over his grave, to give 
full expression to the reverence, the love, and the unalterable 
gratitude, which we had learned to feel for him." 

K 2 



148 FREDERICK: 

was a sum £50,000, collected from the highest 
and the lowest, and in every portion of the 
Empire, to be distributed as they judged fit, 
among the various charities with which they 
were connected. How thoroughly this gift 
was appreciated appears from their message of 
thanks : " We must express our especial satis- 
faction at the fact, that our silver wedding has 
been made the occasion of giving to the day 
on which we made our marriage vow, and 
founded, with God's help, the happiness of our 
lives, its fairest consecration, and a significance 
which our feelings and our aspirations approve, 
by the inauguration of charitable institutions, 
and by collections for objects at once noble and 
of public utility." 

Space would fail to enumerate all the founda- 
tions and institutions which owe their existence 
to the initiative of the royal pair, or in which 
they have taken an active interest. The so- 
called " Workmen's Colonies," whose object is 
the reclaiming of tramps and finding temporary 
occupation for the unemployed ; the " Fort- 
bildung's Schule " institutions for the technical 
and practical education of working-men in their 
leisure hours, owe much to the Crown Prince's 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 149 

promotion and patronage ; while it needs but 
to mention the Society for the Promotion of 
Health in the Home, the Victoria School for 
the Training of Nurses, the Victoria Foundation 
for the Training of Young' Girls in Domestic 
and Industrial Work, to show the practical 
nature of the public services to which they 
devoted themselves with the cordial co-opera- 
tion of the municipal officers of Berlin. Broad 
and tolerant in religious opinion, the Crown 
Prince was a determined opponent of the anti- 
Semitic movement, and a firm supporter of the 
liberty of conscience. He was a zealous 
protector of the order of Freemasons, and a 
number of speeches made by him to various 
lodges are on record, in which the same key- 
note is always struck, the practical work they 
have to do, and the necessity of obsolete 
customs and traditions yielding to the law of 
human progress. 

But it was especially at Potsdam, in the 
Summer months, away from the restraints 
of the capital and the absorbing calls of social 
and public duties, that the home-life of the 
Soldier-Prince displayed its brightest side. 
The occupations afforded by the little farm 



150 FREDERICK: 

at Bonis tedt, the visits to the schools, the 
care of poorer and humbler neighbours, have 
been already alluded to. A charming picture 
was afforded every year, as Christmas came 
round, when all the tenants of the Bornstedt 
estate and their children met round the 
Christmas-tree and the long tables ranged 
with presents, to distribute which the 
kindly landlord and his family never 
failed to come from Berlin. And again, 
in the Summer, when the school-feast came 
round, and the playing ground of the little 
Princes and Princesses was filled with tiny 
beings, shy and full of awe at first, but 
before long brimming over with excitement 
and delight, and carrying away a memory 
which would never be forgotten of those 
who led their romps, and stood by to watch 
their merry games. Indeed, the Crown 
Prince and Princess were never happier 
than when they were surrounded by the 
children of the poor ; and every school or 
institution with which they were in any way 
connected was sure of its annual invitation. 
The education of their own children had 
from the first absorbed their anxious care. 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 151 

The young Princes were brought up in the 
strictest simplicity, and early encouraged 
to take their part in those offices of kindness 
and charity in which their parents found a 
pleasurable duty, while by frequent association 
with their humbler brethren they were taught 
to understand the harder realities of life. 
The Crown Prince himself had been the 
first of his house to enter a public university. 
In the case of his two sons, a more striking 
departure from ancient usage was decided 
upon, and when Prince William was fifteen 
years of age, and Prince Henry twelve, they 
were sent to the Gymnasium at Cassel, 
which occupies the place in Germany of one 
of our greater public schools. They were 
left by their parents, who accompanied them 
thither, in charge of General von Gottberg, 
their military governor, and Dr. Hinzpeter, 
their former tutor. Prince William, who 
was placed at once in one of the higher 
forms, passed his final examinations after 
some two years' study, and when he came 
of age in 1877, on completing his 18th year, 
quitted Cassel to join the regiment in which 
his father had also begun his military career, 



152 FREDERICK : 

nearly thirty years before. Prince Henry, 
who was destined for a naval career, on 
leaving Cassel, joined the cadet ship " Niobe," 
at Kiel, and after a year's apprenticeship, 
started in the " Prince Adalbert " for a two 
year's cruise round the world. The two 
young Princes inherited from their mother 
their taste for English games and field sports. 
The first lawn-tennis court in Berlin and 
Potsdam, where the game is now growing- 
popular, was, needless to say, in the gardens 
of the New Palace ; the river Havel, with 
its wooded lakes, was near for bathing and 
boating ; and on a little model frigate pre- 
sented by our King William IV. to the 
King of Prussia, they learned their first 
essays in navigation. There is no one who 
follows with a keener interest all great events 
in the world of sport and athletics in 
England than the present German Emperor. 
The youngest daughter of the Crown Prince 
and Princess was born on the 22nd of April, 
1872, and named Margaret, after her god- 
mother, the reigning Queen of Italy, who came 
to Potsdam for the christening ceremonies. 
The close friendship of the heirs to the thrones 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 153 

of Germany and Italy was bearing fruit, for 
in the following year (1873) King Victor 
Emmanuel, who until the downfall of the 
French Empire had from a sense of obligation 
maintained sympathetic relations with the 
Emperor Napoleon, paid a visit to the Court 
of Berlin, which was returned by the Crown 
Prince immediately, and by the Emperor him- 
self as soon as public duty admitted of his 
absenting himself from the capital. Latterly 
there were few years when business or pleasure 
did not take the Crown Prince over the Alps. 
Many will remember, with special interest at 
the present time, an incident which occurred 
during his visit to Rome in 1878, when he 
went as the Emperor's representative to attend 
the funeral of the founder of the new Italian 
kingdom. Appearing on the balcony of the 
Quirinal with King Humbert and Queen Mar- 
gherita, he lifted the little Prince of Naples in 
his arms to show him to the people. The 
quick imagination of the Roman crowd seized 
on the symbolic side of this natural movement, 
and gave vent to the most enthusiastic demon- 
strations of deliMit. 

In the same year, after the marriage of his 



154 FREDERICK: 

eldest daughter, Princess Charlotte, with the 
Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Meiningen, the 
Crown Prince had accompanied the Crown 
Princess to England. During their visit to 
Hatfield House in the beginning of June came 
the news of the desperate attempt of the 
socialist Nobiling on the life of the Emperor 
William. The evening after the receipt of 
this alarming news the Crown Prince and 
Princess were once more in Berlin, where the 
Government was placed in the Prince's hands 
during the Emperor's temporary disablement. 

It was not until the last month of 1878 that 
the aged Monarch was sufficiently recovered to 
resume the reins of government. During these 
six months the Congress of Berlin had met 
and separated. One famous State document, 
bearing the Crown Prince's signature, belongs 
to this period of the Regency, a letter to Pope 
Leo XIII. , at the moment when those negotia- 
tions with the Vatican were re-opened, which 
paved the way for an ultimate reconciliation. 
The following extract contains the two essential 
points : the firm determination of the Prussian 
Sovereign to remain independent of the control 
of the Church, and the profession of readiness 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 155 

to approach the questions at issue in a con- 
ciliatory spirit : — 

" The demand advanced in your letter of the 17th 
of April, that the constitution and the laws of Prussia 
should be modified to meet the principles of the 
Roman Catholic Church, is one which no Prussian 
Sovereign will be able to admit, because the inde- 
pendence of the Monarchy, which it is now my duty to 
defend, as an inheritance received from my fathers and 
an obligation owed to my country, would cease to be 
absolute if the free development of its legislation were 
to be subordinated to the control of another power with- 
out. Though it is therefore not in my power, and 
perhaps not in that of your Holiness either, to remove 
an antagonism of principles, which has for a thousand 
years been more keenly felt in the history of Germany 
than in that of any other country, I am nevertheless 
prepared to meet the difficulties which both parties have 
inherited in this conflict, in the peace-loving and con- 
ciliatory spirit which my convictions as a Christian 
enjoin." 

When the brief period of Regency was over 
the Crown Prince resumed his quiet, unobtrusive 
life once more ; but there was no work of public 
utility, no historic centenary, no inauguration 
of national monuments in which he did not take 
his part, sometimes by the side of the Emperor, 



156 FREDERICK: 

sometimes as his representative. The Winter 
which followed these troublous times was indeed 
a sad one for the royal household — in De- 
cember Princess Alice died, and in March fell 
the crushing blow which has been already 
alluded to, the death of the beloved Prince 
Waldemar. 

The small English community of Berlin was 
sure of the Crown Prince's interest and pro- 
tection, and the building of the English church, 
in the gardens of the Monbijou Palace, with 
the funds which were collected on the occasion 
of the Silver Wedding, was a source of 
continual occupation to the Crown Princess, 
who studied every detail herself with an 
artist's care. There is a pleasant memory of 
home about the little church, prettily situated 
in the Palace garden, and its completion was 
the realization of a long cherished dream. 
The speech made by the Crown Prince at the 
ceremony of laying the foundation stone will 
be especially interesting to English readers : — 

" I feel," he said, " a peculiar pleasure in addressing 
those who have met together to-day to witness the lay- 
ing of the foundation-stone of the first English church 
in this town ; for this act realizes a hope which not the 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 157 

Crown Princess alone, but I also, have long cherished. 
The fulfilment of this hope, however, seemed very 
difficult, and would have remained so, but for the 
efforts, not only of the English congregation, but also 
of many friends and well-wishers both in England and 
here. I dwell with pleasure on the thought that the 
Emperor, in granting the use of this piece of Crown- 
land, has been actuated by the same feelings which 
prompted his brother and predecessor, King Frederick 
William IV., to aj^propriate one of the rooms of the 
Palace of Monbijou to the use of the English congre- 
gation, who had till then held their church services 
in a room at an hotel. I am glad that the anniversary 
of the Queen's birthday has been chosen for laying 
the foundation-stone of the English church, especially 
as the Queen's recent bereavement* prevents any 
other celebration of the day this year. The Prince 
of "Wales and the other members of the Poyal 
Family are certainly present with us in spirit to-day, 
for to their zealous efforts is chiefly owing the 
success of the fete in London which provided so large a 
portion of the funds for the building and carrying out 
of the plans, furnished by the talent of the eminent 
Berlin architect, Professor Raschdorff. 

" The Crown Princess and I shall always take an 
additional interest in the church, because you know 
that the English residents, while providing it for their 
own worship, intend it at the same time to be a 

* The death of the Duke of Albany. 



158 FREDERICK: 

memorial of the 25tli anniversary of our wedding day. 
Let me conclude by expressing every good wish for the 
perfect success of the undertaking, and the hope that it 
may contribute towards making their foreign home 
more home-like to the English residents in Berlin." 

" I am quite proud of my English," said the 
Crown Prince, in giving the manuscript of this 
speech to Mr. Teignmouth Shore, who had been 
most active in promoting the scheme, " I wrote 
it all out myself." 

In this connection also may be mentioned an 
incident recorded by Mr. Perry at an interview 
in Buckingham Palace, many years after the 
old days at Bonn. 

" After kind enquiries," Mr. Perry writes, 
" about my children, whose names he remem- 
bered after so many years, he took a little 
prayer-book from his desk, and holding it out 
to me, asked me if I remembered it. I did 
not. ' You lent me that,' he said, ' one Sunday 
when I came into your seat in the English 
church at Bonn, and I kept it, and always 
carry it about with me. I like your English 
service so much.' " 

And so the years went by brightly and use- 
fully, in spite of the ever-increasing difficulty 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 159 

of the position, as the heir to the throne grew 
older, witnessing' in due course the marriage of 
Prince William to Princess Augusta Victoria of 
Schleswig-Holstein, witnessing the birth of 
grandchildren, and all the lights and shadows 
of home-life, varied by continual journeys as 
duty called or pleasure ; for the wandering 
spirit acquired in youth was strong to the last. 
One of these journeys calls for more than a 
passing record. It was towards the close of 
1883 that the Crown Prince was charged to 
return on the King's behalf the visit that 
King Alfonso of Spain had paid to the Prussian 
capital. Circumstances had rendered it ex- 
pedient that the nearer route through France 
should be abandoned, and the journey made by 
sea from Genoa to Valencia. The advent of 
the Prince in Italy was invariably marked by 
popular demonstrations of affection ; and late 
as the hour was when the Royal party arrived 
in Genoa, the streets were thronged to receive 
him, for it was still fresh in the people's memory 
that the Crown Prince and Princess had 
initiated an appeal to their own countrymen on 
behalf of the sufferers in the recent calamity of 
Ischia, After spending the night in the Royal 



160 FREDERICK : 

Palace, he embarked on the " Prince Adalbert," 
the vessel in which his son had sailed round the 
world, and arrived at Valencia, after a stormy 
passage, on the 22nd of November. At Madrid 
every form of festivity was instituted in his 
honour ; and at the Court Ball the veteran 
General von Blumenthal, who accompanied him, 
was forced to take part in the royal quadrille, 
a performance which he said weighed more 
heavily on him than the prospect of another 
campaign would have done. 

All was new ground to the Crown Prince, 
who spent every available moment in the picture 
galleries, and after a fortnight at Madrid he 
devoted another week to a tour among the 
classic cities, finding a new revelation of Art in 
the marvels of the Alhambra, in the great 
Mosque, with its thousand columns of the city of 
the Caliphs, in the vast design of the Cathedral 
of Seville. During his stay at Madrid a telegram 
reached him from Berlin, instructing him to 
return by Borne, ostensibly to thank the King 
for his hospitality at Genoa, but also to afford 
an opportunity for a visit to the Pope, whose 
conciliatory policy promised to effect an end so 
ardently desired by the Emperor William, the 



GROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 161 

re-establishment of peace with the Catholic 
Church and party. In Rome the Crown Prince 
was the guest of the King at the Quirinal. 
A visit direct from the Quirinal to the Vatican 
could scarcely, in the actual state of relations, 
have been acceptable. A curious compromise 
was therefore resorted to. From the Quirinal the 
Prince drove first to the German Embassy. 
Thence he proceeded to the official residence of 
the Prussian Minister accredited to the Pope, 
and there, dismounting from the carriage which 
bore the arms of the house of Savoy, he drove 
with his Staff in the carriages of the Prussian 
Legation to the Vatican. He had previously 
disarmed the possibility of misinterpretation on 
the part of the national party, by placing, in 
the morning, a wreath on the grave of King 
Victor Emmanuel. There was no other person 
present at his interview with the Pope, and 
what passed remained at the time subject for 
conjecture. The incident is introduced here 
not on account of its political aspect, but in 
illustration of the admirable tact and judgment 
through which the Prince succeeded in offend- 
ing neither party. " Being the guest of the 
King of Italy," he said himself, " I have also 

L 



162 FREDERICK : 

been able to pay a visit to the Pope. These 
are facts of great importance, of which our 
country will reap the benefit." 

The mention of Rome recalls the memory of 
one who, having witnessed there the solution of 
the Italian question, was during thirteen years 
the Queen's representative at Berlin, and who 
acquired, as few foreigners could ever hope to 
do, the confidence both of the Court and the 
Government. In Lord Ampthill, gifted as he 
was in an extraordinary measure with social 
and intellectual charm, the Crown Prince and 
Princess found a warm friend, and they took 
the greatest pleasure in the society both of 
himself and of his wife — a friend of the Crown 
Princess's early days. His little villa on the 
hill near Sans Souci was a favourite spot with 
them, and the scene of many cherished recol- 
lections. An admirable scholar and a qualified 
critic, he was at the same time a thorough man 
of the world, a master of the literature of four 
languages, and he possessed the gift of expres- 
sion in each ; his mind was a storehouse of 
memories and portraits, and while it was a 
privilege to listen to his conversation, he 
possessed the rare and lovable quality of 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 163 

seeming to bestow his best upon whomsoever he 
might for the moment be in contact with. His 
early death, in 1884, was a great grief and a 
genuine loss to the royal pair, in whose lives 
he had become such a familiar figure. The 
day after his death the Crown Prince came 
himself to the little villa to lay a wreath upon 
the coffin, and he took a rosebud from it away 
with him to keep. 

When in the summer of 1886 the University 
of Heidelberg celebrated its fifth centenary, the 
Crown Prince was again the Emperor's repre- 
sentative. His speech on this occasion, apart 
from its intrinsic merit, and its telling- force in 
the mouth of one who was looked on as the 
typical representative of United Germany, has 
also a touching interest from the fact that it is 
the last important public speech which he ever 
made in that clear, familiar, ringing voice of 
his. So soon after the shadows began to close 
around him, and the silence fell. This speech, 
which inevitably loses much in translation, is so 
remarkable that it shall be given unabridged. 
Addressing himself to the Grand Duke of 
Baden as Chancellor, and the assembled 
University, he said : — 

L 2 



1 64 FREDERICK : 

"As bearer of the greetings and congratulations of 
His Majesty the Emperor, I am filled with pride and 
pleasure at the enthusiasm with which on these festal 
days her sons, both young and old, have gathered. round 
their princely Chancellor, looking back with him on the 
glorious history of this University, and realizing, with 
gratitude to God, that in the 500 years of her existence 
she has never known a brighter period than that in 
which we live. Founded in the dawn of our age of 
culture, the University of Heidelberg has experienced 
and shared in all the changeful phases through which 
the Grerman character has passed, in the hard-won 
development of its individuality. She has flourished 
and drooped in turn ; suffered and battled for the 
freedom of belief and research ; has known sorrow 
and exile, that at last, supported by the firm and 
gentle hand of her royal protector, she might cover 
her honourable wounds with the gala robe of 
victory. 

" Like the Grerman nation, whose noblest possessions 
her voice was ever raised to defend, she has seen ful- 
filled the desire of centuries. Her shield of honour 
gleams the brighter in the sun of our united Father- 
land. With deep emotion I recall to-clay the 
momentous hour* in which your Royal Highness was 

* At the ceremony at Versailles, when the Emperor 
assumed the Imperial dignity, the Grand .Duke of Baden was 
the first to step forward and call for a cheer for the " German 
Emperor." 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 165 

the first to greet the leader of our victorious nation by 
the noble name of Emperor. This recollection has for 
me a deep significance at the festival which we are 
celebrating. To be the first to put in action a great and 
good resolve is a privilege of your illustrious house and 
of this famous University. 

"It is my pleasant duty in the mission I fulfil to 
acknowledge to her honour how loyally Heidelberg per- 
formed her part in fostering those mental and social 
conditions which were the first step to our national 
regeneration. She was ever liberally hospitable to 
teachers as to pupils. From every province they 
flocked to her, and in the loving arms of their Alma 
Mater, they realized once more that a greater mother 
was their parent. , 

"So here in the quiet of the student's life was 
developing what history, after long wanderings, has 
vouchsafed us. In the south-western corner of the 
Empire, near the old frontier, and therefore near the 
danger, the son of the North learned to love the son of 
the South as his brother, that he might return again to 
his home, and spread abroad the fair faith that all the 
people are one people, which faith is our treasure and 
our strength. 

" And now that we possess it once more, this blessing 
of unity, there is blown back from the mighty whole a 
breath which brings vigour to the dear old home where 
we were educated. Wider grow the aims of knowledge, 
wider our aspirations, more grateful the duty of the 



166 FREDERICK : 

teacher to proclaim them, and of the pupil to appreciate 
them. 

" The Fatherland and the Academic Commonwealth 
can only exercise a beneficial influence on one another 
if they preserve the same virtues in their respective 
spheres of activity. The higher the results we achieve 
in science and in history, the loftier the aims to which 
we aspire, the greater prudence and self-denial we shall 
need. 

" My dearest wishes and my confident hope, which I 
offer to the University to-day, are recorded in the 
appeal I make to teachers and to scholars, to bear in 
mind the duty most imperiously devolving on us, when 
elated with success, in learning as in living, to be 
conscientious and severe in intellectual discipline, and 
to promote the feeling of brotherhood among comrades, 
that from the spirit of independence and the love of 
peace may ensue the necessary force to develop all the 
forms of our national life. So may it be granted to this 
University, one of the oldest schools of German culture, 
to remain in energy her youngest." 

In the Winter a severe cold brought on a 
hoarseness, which was not at first regarded 
as of serious importance, and was lightly treated 
by the Emperor himself, who would say 
with a smile, " I cannot sing," apologizing 
for his enforced silence. But as the weeks 
went by, and no improvement was revealed, 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 167 

there were not a few who began to feel a 
certain anxiety ; and the festivities on the 
22nd of March, when the Emperor William 
attained his ninetieth birthday, and Prince 
Henry was formally betrothed to his cousin, 
Princess Irene of Hesse, when he was called 
upon to represent the aged Monarch at a 
number of functions, were a severe strain upon 
his overtaxed energies. A cure at Ems was 
recommended, but proved of no service ; and 
it was after his return from Ems that those 
sinister rumours first began to spread abroad, 
which enlisted for the royal patient not 
only the sympathy of Germany, but that of 
Europe and of countries far beyond the seas, 
where his name had become a proverb for 
all that was lovable and generous and of 
good report ; a sympathy which, we have 
the Chancellor's guarantee for it, was the 
one source of gratification and consolation 
to the last dark weeks of the aged Emperor's 
waning life. 

He was nevertheless well enough to take 
part in the rejoicings at the Queen's Jubilee, 
and as he rode in the procession in the 
white uniform of the Cuirassiers his stately 



168 FREDERICK : 

presence and his kindly, friendly face, together 
with the sentiment of some grave crisis 
hanging over the head of the soldier-hero, 
made a deep and lasting impression on all 
who were present at that memorable scene. 
Men spoke of nothing but the German Crown 
Prince, as if they, too, had a special claim 
upon him. They knew that he was gifted 
with all the virtues which Englishmen admire, 
and that he loved our country well, and 
through the dark year that followed there 
was but one topic that all were absorbed 
in, one prayer that went up through the 
length and breadth of the land, that this 
man's life might be spared. It will have a 
pathetic interest to many who were witnesses 
of the last great public ceremony in which 
he took part to know what was passing in 
his own mind as he rode past, the observed 
of all observers. His quick observation 
was at work, noting upon that day, as 
he ever did in foreign countries, anything 
which struck him as worthy of admiration, 
with a view to its subsequent adaptation 
in his own. After his death was found in 
a little pocket-book, which he carried with 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 169 

him on that day, the following entry : " The 
ambulance arrangements on the day of the 
Jubilee. The drinking- troughs for horses and 
dogs, and the cabmen's shelters in the streets 
of London." 

From London the Crown Prince went alone 
for a brief visit to Scotland, and appeared to 
derive great benefit from the fresh mountain 
air and the vigorous life he led. During his 
stay at Braemar he was asked by a gentleman 
to do him the honour of christening a steam- 
launch. He gave it the name of " The White 
Heather," showing how his thoughts still 
travelled back to the memory of a day, nearly 
thirty years before, when in these same Scotch 
mountains he had plucked the sprig of white 
heather to give to his English bride. Rejoin- 
ing the Crown Princess and his three youngest 
daughters, the Crown Prince went from Scot- 
land to Toblach, in Tyrol, and later to Venice 
and Baveno. Finally, the Villa Zirio, at San 
Remo, was chosen as a Winter residence, and 
when he re-entered Berlin it was as German 
Emperor. The events of last year are still too 
fresh in the memory of all to need recapitula- 
tion here. We all remember too well the 



170 FREDEEICK : 

changing hopes and fears, the doubts that 
trembled into certainty, and left no room for 
hope. It was a gloomy New Year at Berlin; 
and when the usual season of Carnival came 
round there was but little heart in the 
gaiety. Ever thoughtful of others, and 
mindful how important an interest is in- 
volved in the social season to large numbers 
of the working-classes, the Crown Prince 
had sent a message from San Remo, desiring 
that all should take its usual course ; but 
at every meeting there was present an un- 
bidden guest — the sinister rumour passing 
through the throng. February the 9th, the 
day upon which the operation of tracheotomy 
was performed, had been fixed for the annual 
subscription ball in the Royal Opera House, 
the proceeds of which are devoted to the Berlin 
charities. The house was full, as ever, but 
through the dense crowd the unwelcome news 
began to spread, and there was no mirth in any 
of the thousand faces — not a dance was danced 
that night, and all the people seemed touched 
as by the sense of a personal sorrow. A month 
later anxious crowds were gathered round the 
Palace in Berlin. The Emperor was sinking 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 171 

from the exhaustion of age ; far from the 
son who had been ever at his side in the 
hour of danger, he fought the last great 
battle alone. But gently sleep fell upon 
him, full of years and full of honour, and 
without a struggle, the long laborious life was 
closed. 



VII. 

1888. 



VII. 

1888. 

On the night of the 11th of March the Emperor 
Frederick reached his capital, in a wild storm 
of sleet and snow ; he had borne the journey 
well, and the few who witnessed his arrival 
were struck by his vigorous demeanour. His 
old friend and ally, King Humbert, had 
travelled to Genoa to salute him as Emperor 
on his way, and the last meeting between the 
two Sovereigns, whose lives had had so much 
in common, was a very touching one. All 
along the line from the German frontier, 
thousands had flocked to every railway station 
in the hope of obtaining a fleeting glimpse of the 
illustrious traveller, and silently but sincerely 
his people welcomed him home. The Chancellor 
and the Ministers of State had gone as far as 
Leipzig to meet the Royal train, and transact 



176 FREDERICK : 

with the Emperor such immediate business as 
required his personal direction. On his arrival, 
shortly after eleven, the Emperor drove straight 
to the Palace of Charlottenburg, which gives 
its name to a suburb some three miles from 
the city. A little later, through the white 
snow-covered Linden Alley, lined by troops 
with flaming torches, the body of the first 
German Emperor, dressed in his military cap 
and cloak, with the Order of " Merit " on his 
breast, was solemnly borne from the Palace to 
the Cathedral where he was to lie in State. 

Oh the following day the Emperor Frederick 
issued his proclamation to the German nation, 
and a rescript addressed to the Imperial 
Chancellor was simultaneously published, in 
which he paid a warm tribute of esteem to his 
father's faithful friend and counsellor, and set 
forth the principles which were to characterize 
his government. These two remarkable docu- 
ments, which will be found in the Appendix, 
composed entirely by the Emperor's own hand, 
would alone suffice to mark Lis brief and tragic 
reign, and their lessons will not all be lost. 
At last, after the long years of waiting and 
restraint, his own heart might find expres- 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 177 

sion ; and now, when the power came, it was 
already too late. He was not even able to 
look for the last time on the father he had 
loved and served so well ; only from the 
window of his palace he watched the funeral 
procession winding past to the Mausoleum 
in the garden of Charlottenburg, where 
Queen Louise and King Frederick William III. 
lie side by side in their marble sleep. It was a 
moving scene to many a war-worn veteran, that 
last farewell to the good old Emperor ; it was a 
moving scene to all who had lived through the 
mighty changes that his reign had witnessed ; 
but what must have been in the mind of the 
illustrious mourner, as he turned back from the 
window into his silent chamber ! He also had 
meant to be his people's father ; he had pre- 
pared himself with untiring devotion to duty 
for his great task, the thought of which in times 
before had almost overwhelmed him till his 
strong faith reconquered his misgivings of 
himself : he had not neglected to make 
acquaintance with people of every party, class, 
and calling, so as to be in touch with the inner 
life and aspirations of the nation ; he had kept 
his life clean and spotless, and above all little- 
Mi 



178 FREDERICK : 

ness and spite, to be a bright example in the 
eyes of men. And now, when he came to be 
crowned at last, there was nothing left him to 
do but to husband what strength remained to 
him for the daily routine of duties that he must 
needs fulfil, to give up all the rest for ever, 
bravely to surrender himself and bow to the will 
of God. The service of man had been his life- 
long study, and now, when the time for 
realization should have come, it was only given 
him to teach one lesson, but that the hardest 
of all to learn and the noblest of all to teach, 
the lesson of self-renouncement and unmurmur- 
ing resignation. To the last his force of will 
maintained him, worn and harassed as he was 
by all that his disease entailed upon him, and 
by the oppression of his enforced silence, he left 
no portion of his daily task undone, and on the 
sick-bed where others rest he still worked 
bravely on. When he was well enough to 
spend the afternoons in the garden of the 
Palace, he would send for his horses, and watch 
his favourites being exercised with a look of 
wistful interest. His love for animals was 
great ; from his earliest youth he had made a 
certain race of Italian greyhounds his particular 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 179 

pets, and was always to be seen in the country 
followed by two or three of these delicate and 
graceful animals, and not a day had passed 
in old times, either in Berlin or Potsdam, 
without his visiting the stables to feed with his 
own hand the horses who knew his footstep and 
expected his daily visit. 

Day after day through the Spring weeks dense 
crowds hung round the Charlottenburg Palace, 
in spite of its great distance from Berlin,, for 
the chance of seeing that beloved face at the 
window, or of catching a passing glimpse of him 
when later, as the weather mended, a few short 
drives were sanctioned. If the love and care of 
all who surrounded him, if the sympathy and 
admiration of the world were any consolation to 
the strong mind for its forced inactivity- to the 
strong man for his waning strength, such con- 
solation was not wanting ; and indeed it was a 
theme to which he constantly recurred, the 
sincere feeling evinced for him in foreign 
countries, and what most particularly touched 
him, the expression this feeling found in France. 
This is no place to intrude upon the ministries 
of that closer circle that watched his sick 
chamber and tended his latter days with loving 

M 2 



180 FREDERICK: 

and unwearying devotion, but probably never 
has it been granted to any single individual to 
find such a place as he found, by the mute 
appeal of his pathetic story, in the hearts of all 
classes and all countries. 

There were three bright passages in the 
brief three months of his reign, with the daily 
record of which all are still familiar. The first 
was the Queen's visit to Berlin, during which 
he perceptibly rallied ; the second, the marriage 
of his sailor son, Prince Henry, to Princess- 
Irene of Hesse, at which he was able to be 
present ; and the third, the move from Charlot- 
tenburg to the old home at Potsdam, to which 
he now gave the name of " Friedrichskron " ; 
the palace where he was born, where he had 
spent the happy Summers of his married days, 
and where he was now all too soon to close his 
bright and useful life. The last crisis set in 
very soon after his arrival at Friedrichskron, 
and his state was declared to be hopeless. 
Brave and patient as he had been throughout 
his long and cruel illness, with its wearing and 
painful recurrent crises, bravely as he had 
received his death-warrant, so bravely he met 
his end. 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 181 

The 14th of June was the birthday of 
Princess Sophie. He sent for her quite early 
in the morning to give her the flowers he had 
ordered for her, and seemed quite cheerful and 
bright, but his strength was exhausted by the 
progress of the disease and his long heroic 
struggle against it. To the end he had ' ' done 
out the duty," he had suffered without com- 
plaining, as through life he had kept his great 
shield white, and now the silent Emperor 
bowed his head, and was ready, if ever man was 
on earth, to meet God face to face. A little 
before midday on the 15th of June, surrounded 
by the whole of his family, he passed away 
without a struggle. 

After death, his body was by his own express 
wish wrapped in his military mantle, and the 
Empress placed in his arms the sword he had 
worn in his various campaigns ; round his neck 
she hung his Grand Cross of the Order " Pour le 
Merite," and on his breast she laid the wreath 
of oak leaves she had given him on his return 
from the war of 1870. 

His coffin was placed in the church where 
his sons Prince Sigismund and Prince Walde- 
mar rest, in the gardens of Sans Souci, 



182 FREDERICK : 

awaiting the Mausoleum that is to be built to 
receive it. The funeral ceremony took place 
upon the clay of Waterloo, a bright day between 
rainy days, and never were the parks and 
gardens of Friedrichskron more beautiful than 
on that morning, with the fresh green of the 
late season, and the birds singing in all the 
trees. 

In the great semi-circular garden in front of 
the Palace, facing the avenue which leads to 
Sans Souci, the solemn procession formed ; 
under the trees surrounding it troops were 
drawn up, to the left infantry, to the right 
calvary, amongst which were the Life Guards 
with black cuirasses : there was no crowding, 
the public were excluded here ; along the 
avenue more troops were drawn up waiting to 
join the procession. The coffin lay in the 
Jasper Hall, opening on a terrace facing the 
garden, and there a preliminary service took 
place. Then as the coffin was placed upon the 
bier, the soft and solemn singing ceased, and 
the military bands stationed round the semi- 
circle began a weird and melancholy music, 
chorales of the German Protestant Church, 
each taking up the other, and so on down the 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 183 

avenue till the sound died away in the trees. 
All the while muffled drums were beating. 
The procession formed ; the charger he had 
ridden in the Avar of 1870, a superb chestnut, 
called Worth, which knew him and followed 
him as a dog does its master, was led behind 
the bier, and the veteran Field-Marshal von 
Blumenthal carried the Imperial banner. It 
was a small procession, but very solemn and 
impressive. The sun shone out on the helmets 
and cuirasses, on the gardens he had loved and 
cared for, on the terrace where he walked in 
the Summer evenings in pleasant converse with 
some favoured guest, while amid the weird 
music of the military bands, and the roll of the 
muffled drums, the slow procession, was lost in 
the green of the trees. 

And now in conclusion let us fiance back 

o 

over the career and character of this singularly 
gifted life. The time allotted him to reign in 
was too brief and troubled for the accomplish- 
ment of any public acts that could leave a 
permanent trace behind them ; but the whole 
tendency of his example, the note of idealism 
which he supplied to temper the sterner 
material virtues of the national character, his 



184 FREDERICK : 

breadth and tolerance in questions of religion, 
the consistent record of his simple and unselfish 
life, will not be soon effaced, and will some day 
be better understood. The genius of each 
nation is different, and we should do ill to 
judge the German by our own, or to expect 
that like causes would necessarily lead to like 
effects, but the genius of every vigorous nation 
is progressive, and it was his merit as a ruler to 
have appreciated this. 

To those who never knew him, it will be im- 
possible to convey an adequate idea of his 
irresistible personal charm, of the smile in his 
eyes, and the kindly brightness of his face, 
which brought a contagious light and gladness 
wherever he entered in. His sense of humour 
was keen, and like all simple characters in 
whom the child is only gone to sleep, 
he delighted in innocent amusement. While 
none the less, though known only to his 
closest intimates, there lay beneath this out- 
ward brightness the inevitable accompaniment 
of the idealistic nature, the " eternal note of 
sadness," the deep depression of the earnest 
thinker. All who were brought into contact 
with him fell immediately under the charm of 



CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR. 185 

his manner, which, with all its naturalness and 
geniality, was never wanting in dignity. And 
where such acquaintance ripened into closer 
intimacy, experience only developed a warmer 
admiration. To quote once again the words of 
one who had exceptional opportunities for 
studying his character in the most trying times, 
in camp and on the battlefield : " He was not 
only the most lovable, but the noblest man with 
whom I have ever associated — noble in his acts, 
noble in his speech, noble in his judgment of 
others. I never knew him say an unkind thing 
of anyone, man or woman, living or dead — not 
that his judgment of others was always favour- 
able, but it was never expressed in other than 
the most kindly terms." * 

Destined from his birth to rule, he schooled 
himself to learn submission, and to abide his 
time in patience. Free to command the energies 
of his subordinates, he was full of kindly con- 
sideration, and never suffered custom to blunt 
his gratitude for a service loyally performed. 
Though constantly engaged in the public duties 
of his lofty station, he still found time for all 
those private acts of kindliness and sympathy, 
* General Sir Beauchamp Walker. Letter to the Author. 



lob FREDERICK. 

as neighbour, as master, as friend, which earn 
for private persons the love and admiration of 
their fellows. He had acquired wide and 
varied learning, and his high ambition was to 
open a royal road to knowledge to the richest and 
the poorest of his subjects alike. For him the 
earth displayed her marvels to a loving eye, and 
Art not vainly revealed her treasures ; he had 
seen much, toiled much, enjoyed much. He 
was essentially a man, and there was no human 
interest or emotion which he could not share. 

An active and industrious youth, a married 
life crowned with many blessings, and not-un- 
tempered by the sorrows man is heir to, and a 
public career which was rich in great results, 
had prepared him for a brilliant and useful 
future. All too early, too soon for the accom- 
plishment of many cherished plans, after an 
heroic endurance of pain and disappointment, 
he was taken from us in the pride of his man- 
hood and strength ; and as they bore him on 
that Summer morning from his happy home of 
thirty years, there came into the present 
writer's mind the words : — 

" Thou art the ruins of the noblest man 
That ever lived in the tide of times. " 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 

The Emperor Frederick's Proclamation to 
his People. 

The Emperor's glorious life is ended. 

In the dearly-loved father whom I mourn, 
and for whom all the members of my Royal 
House are with me sorrowing, Prussia's loyal 
people has lost a King crowned with glory, the 
German nation has lost the founder of its unity, 
the re-established Empire has lost the first 
German Emperor. 

His exalted name will remain indissolubly 
connected with all the greatness of the German 
Fatherland, in re-creating which the persistent 
labour of Prussia's people and Princes has found 
its fairest reward. 

In raising the Prussian Army with unweary- 
ing and paternal care to the height of its grave 
mission, Kino- William established the sure 
foundation of those victories which were won 



190 APPENDIX. 

under his leadership by German arms, and 
from which the national unity arose. He thus 
secured the Empire that powerful position for 
which till then every German heart had longed, 
but hardly dared to hope. 

And what he won for his people in the fire 
and sacrifice of battle it was granted him 
to establish and promote, through long laborious 
years of government consecrated to the work of 
peace. 

Resting secure on her own strength, Germany 
stands respected in the councils of the nations, 
and only desires to enjoy and develop what she 
had won, in peace. 

That this is so, we must thank the Emperor 
William. His constant fidelity to duty, his 
unremitting energy, labouring only for the good 
of the Fatherland, supported as he was by the 
self-sacrificing devotion which the Prussian 
nation has ever unwaveringly shown, and 
all the German races have shared. 

On me have now devolved all the rights 
and duties, bound up with the throne of my 
House, which I am resolved faithfully to ob- 
serve so long as it may please God's will that I 
shall reign. 



APPENDIX. 191 

Deeply conscious of the greatness of my task, 
my sole endeavour will be to carry on the work 
in the sense in which it was begun, to make 
Germany a stronghold of peace, and in harmony 
with the federal governments, as well as with 
the constitutional bodies of the Empire and 
of Prussia, to further the prosperity of the 
country. 

To my loyal people, which has through the 
story of many centuries stood by my House in 
good and evil days, I place my unreserved 
confidence. For I am convinced that, resting 
on the basis of the inseparable union between 
Prince and people, which, independently of all 
changes in political life, has been the imperish- 
able heritage of the House of Hohenzollern, my 
throne will ever be as sure as the prosperity of 
the country which I am now called upon to 
govern, to which I promise and vow to be a 
just and faithful King, in joy as well as in 
sorrow. 

May God grant me His blessing and strength 

for this work, to which henceforth I dedicate 

my life. 

FREDERICK, I.R, 

Berli.v, March 12, 1888. 



192 APPENDIX. 



Rescript addressed to the Imperial 
Chancellor. 

" My Dear Prince, 

" At the opening of my reign I feel 
the necessity of addressing you, for so many 
years the tried first servant of my father, now 
resting in God. You were the faithful and 
courageous counsellor who gave form to the 
aims of his policy, and secured their successful 
realization. 

" To you the warm thanks of myself and of 
my House are in duty due. 

" You have, therefore, a right, before all 
others, to know what are the guiding principles 
by which my rule will be governed. 

" The constitutional and legal ordinances of 
the Empire and of Prussia must first and fore- 
most be consolidated in the respect of the 
nation and in the national life. Therefore, 
those shocks which repeated changes in the 
institutions and laws of the State entail are to 
be avoided as far as it is possible. 



APPENDIX. 193 

The furtherance of the duties which fall to 
the Imperial Government must leave those 
stable principles undisturbed upon which 
hitherto the Prussian State has securely rested. 

In the Empire the constitutional rights of all 
the Federal Governments are to be as con- 
scientiously observed as those of the Imperial 
Diet ; but from both a similar respect for the 
rights of the Emperor will be expected. At 
the same time it must be kept in view that 
these mutual rights are only intended to serve 
the promotion of the public welfare, which 
remains the supreme law, and that new and 
undoubted national requirements which may 
make themselves felt must be satisfied in full 
measure. 

The most indispensable and most certain 
guarantee for the unimpeded furtherance of 
this work I hold to be the maintenance in 
unabated strength of the defensive forces of the 
nation, my well-tried army, and my growing 
navy, which is finding important duties to 
perforin, now that we have acquired possessions 
beyond the seas. Both must continually 
maintain that standard of efficiency and 
thoroughness of organization which have 

N 



194 APPENDIX. 

already established their fame, and guarantee 
their effective service in the future. 

I am resolved to govern in the Empire and in 
Prussia with a conscientious observation of the 
the provisions of their respective constitutions. 
For these were established by those who have 
gone before me in wise appreciation of the in- 
evitable requirements of social and political life, 
and the questions it presents for solution, 
and must be respected by each and all, that 
their vigour and beneficent influence may be 
assured. 

It is my will that the principle of religious 
toleration, which has for years been held sacred 
in my family, shall continue to extend its pro- 
tection to all my subjects, to whatsoever re- 
ligious community and creed they may belong. 
Every one of them stands equally near my 
heart, for all of them equally in the hour of 
danger proved their complete devotion. 

In entire accord with the views of my im- 
perial father, I shall warmly support every 
movement towards furthering the economical 
prosperity of every class of society, reconciling 
their conflicting interests, and mitigating, as far 
as may be possible, unavoidable differences, 



APPENDIX. 195 

without encouraging the anticipation that 
every social evil can be removed by State 
intervention. 

I consider as intimately connected with 
social questions the control of the education of 
youth. While, on the one hand, a higher culti- 
vation must be extended to ever- widening 
circles, we have at the same time to beware of 
the dangers of half-education, of awakening 
demands which the nation's economic develop- 
ment is unable to satisfy, of neglecting the 
real business of education in a one-sided effort 
after increase of knowledge. 

Only a generation growing up on the sound 
principle of the fear of God, and in simplicity of 
morals, will possess sufficient power of resistance 
to counteract the dangers which the whole 
community incurs in a time of rapid economic 
development, through the example of the 
highly luxurious life of individuals. It is my 
will that no opportunity be lost in the public 
service of manifesting all possible opposition to 
the temptation to inordinate expenditure. 

My unbiassed consideration is assured in 
advance to every proposal of financial reform, 
if the old Prussian principle of economy will 

N 2 



196 APPENDIX. 

not enable us to avoid the imposition of new 
burdens, and to effect an alleviation of the 
demands that have hitherto been made. 

I consider as beneficial the measure of self- 
government accorded to greater and smaller 
communities in the State. On the other hand, 
I suggest for examination the point whether 
the right of levying taxes conferred upon these 
communities, which is exercised by them with- 
out sufficient regard to the burdens simul- 
taneously imposed by the Empire and the 
State, may not press too heavily upon the 
individual. 

In like manner it will have to be considered 
whether a reform in the direction of simplifica- 
tion may not be admissible in the organization 
of the authorities, so that by reducing the 
number of officials an increase migfht be made 
to their emoluments. 

If we succeed in maintaining in full vigour 
the bases of political and social life, it will 
afford me especial satisfaction to assist in 
promoting to its perfect development the pro- 
gress which Art and Science in Germany can 
boast in so large a measure. 

For the realization of these my intentions, I 



APPENDIX. 197 

count upon the devotion you have given such 
constant proof of, and the support of your tried 
experience. 

May it be granted me on these principles to 
lead the people of Germany and Prussia to new 
honours in the field of practical development, 
with the unanimous co-operation of all the 
organs of the Empire, the devotion of the 
people's representatives, and all the official 
bodies, with the responsive confidence of every 
class of the population in Germany and Prussia. 

Not dazzled by the splendour of great 
achievements, I shall be content, if hereafter 
it be said of my government, that it was 
beneficial to my people, useful to my country, 
and a blessing to the Empire ! 

Your affectionate, 

FKEDEEICK, I.R 

Berlin, March 12, 1888. 



Henderson, Rait, & Spalding, Printers, Marylebone Lane, London, W. 



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